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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


T«chnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notat  tacliniquat  at  bibiiographiquas 


Tha  inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
originai  copy  avaiiabia  for  fiiming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographicaiiy  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  aignificantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chaclcad  balow. 


D 
D 
D 
D 
0 
D 
D 
D 


D 


D 


Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  couiaur 

Covars  damagad/ 
Couvartura  andommagAa 

Covara  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raatauria  at/ou  paiiiculAa 

Covar  titia  miaaing/ 

La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 

Colourad  mapa/ 

Cartaa  gtographiquaa  an  couiaur 

Colourad  ink  (l.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  d»  couiaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 

Colourad  plataa  and/or  lllus\  rations/ 
Planchas  at/ou  illustrationa  «)n  couiaur 

Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
Rali4  avac  d'autras  documanta 


rri    Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 


along  intarior  margin/ 

La  raliura  sarrAa  paut  causar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  k 

distortion  la  long  da  la  marga  intiriaura 

Blank  laavaa  addad  during  rastoratlon  may 
appaar  within  tha  taxt.  Whanav«T  possibla.  thas'j 
hava  baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  sa  paut  qua  cartainas  pages  blanches  ajcutAaa 
lors  d'una  rastauration  apparaissant  dana  la  taxta. 
mais.  lorsqua  cala  itait  possibla,  cas  pagaa  n'ont 
pas  «tA  film«as. 

Additional  commants:/ 
Commantairas  supplAmantairas.- 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  la  mailiaur  axamplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  Att  poaaibia  da  aa  procurar.  Laa  d^taiia 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  aont  paut-Atra  uniquaa  du 
point  da  vua  bibliographiqua,  qui  pauvant  modifiar 
una  imaga  raproduita,  ou  qui  pauvant  axigar  una 
modification  dana  la  mithoda  normala  da  filmaga 
aont  indiquia  ci-dassoua. 


Tl 
to 


|~n   Colourad  pagaa/ 


Pagaa  da  couiaur 

Pagaa  damagad/ 
Pagaa  andommagiaa 

Pagas  raatorad  and/oi 

Pagas  rastnuriaa  at/ou  pallicultea 

Pagas  discolourad,  stainad  or  foxa( 
Pagas  dAcoiorAas,  tachatAas  ou  piquAas 

Pages  detached/ 
Pagas  dAtachtea 

Showthroughy 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inAgala  de  I'lmpression 

Includes  supplementary  matarii 
Comprend  du  matAriai  supplAmentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seuie  Mition  diaponibla 


n~1  Pages  damaged/ 

I — I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~r{'  Peges  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I     I  Pages  detached/ 

I      I  Showthrough/ 

|~n  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

pn  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I — I  Only  edition  available/ 


Tl 

P< 
of 
fil 


Oi 
b« 
th 

Si( 

ot 

fir 
sit 
or 


Th 

sh 
Tl 

wl 

M 
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Pages  wholly  or  partiallv  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  ref limed  to 
enaura  tha  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  per  un  feuillet  d'errata,  una  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  At*  filmAes  A  nouveau  de  fepon  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  et  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

/ 

^^^■s 

12X 


1«X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  fllmad  h«r«  has  b«i)n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


L'axamplaira  flimA  fut  raproduit  grica  k  la 
g^nirosit*  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


Tha  Imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibllity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  Itaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion.  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriate.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  Included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  end  top  to  bottom,  es  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  imagas  suivantas  ont  AtA  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattet*  de  I'exemplaSra  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avac  les  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmage. 

Les  exemplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvarture  en 
papier  est  imprimAa  sont  filmAs  en  commandant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAre  paga  qui  comporta  un9  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autras  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporta  una  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
film6s  6  des  taux  de  reduction  diff«rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaira.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
iliustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

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4 

5 

6 

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-.*-X; 


:ii.">r,  •jjxitui:^  ^yi>  i'UjiLfAorj, 


"J  f;  8  >{)„ 


THE  FROZEN  ZONE 


ITS    EXPLORERS: 


A    COMPRERRNBIVK    nilTOBT    OV 


VOYAGES,  TRAVELS,  ADVENTURES,  DISASTERS,  AND  DISCOVERIES 


ARCTIC  REGIONS, 

iNOLUsma 

EKCENT  OBRMAN  AND  SWEDISH  EXPEDITIONS;  CAPTAIN  NARE'S  ENGLISH 

EXPEDITION:    PROK    NORDENSKIOI.D'S   DISCOVERY  OP 

A  NORTHEAST  PASSXQE:  THE  SAJUNO 

OF  THE  JEANNETTE, 

ETC.. 

WITH    OBAPUIO     DBI.IHBATIONt    OW 

LIFE  AND  NATURE  IN  THE  REALMS  OF  FROST. 


Illnitnttb  takl||  •nt  ^nnbtcb  anb  9cb(RiB-fibi  fingtabingi  nnb  j^ipf. 
Writtin,  AMD  Compiled  mov  Avtbintic  Sohbom, 

BT 

ALEXANDER    HYD-E,  A.M.,    Rkv.  A.  C.  BALDWIN, 

AND 

Rkv.  W.  L.  GAGE. 


PUBLISUED  BY  f  JbSCIilPTION  ONLY. 


HARTFORD,   CONN.: 

R.  W.  BLISS    &    COMPANY. 

A.   L.   BANCROFT   *   CO.,   SAN   FRANCISCO,    CAL. 
1880. 


|. 


9 

%0 

c\q2 

1    Hf^3 

COPTHIOIIT   BT   rOt,nilBlAl.  BoOK   COMPAKT     18T4. 
COFYBIOIIT    BY    COI.UMBUJI    BoOK   COMPANY.    1H80. 


rNTRODUCTION. 


The  Arctic  Regions,  cold,  dreary  and  desolate,  liave 
been  the  theatre  of  the  most  heroic  exploits  and  dar- 
ing adventures  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Here  the 
tjenius  of  such  men  as  Parry,  Ross,  Franklin,  Kane, 
Hayes,  Hall,  Payer,  Markham,  Nares,  Nordenskiold, 
and  DeLong  has  found  ample  scope  for  development ; 
and  a  taste  of  the  j)erils  and  hardships  of  the  Frozen 
Zone  only  served  to  incite  them  to  new  encounters. 
No  vision  of  "  sunny  fountains  rolling  down  their 
golden  snnds,"  or  ambition  for  conquest  and  usurped 
power  filled  their  minds;  but  the  love  of  adventure, 
the  advancement  of  science,  and  the  holier  impulses  of 
humanity,  were  the  lodestones  which  drew  them 
toward  the  Pole. 

*To  chronicle  faithfully  and  in  an  attractive  manner 
the  brilliant  achievements  of  these  adventurous  spirits, 
and  to  present,  incidentally,  graphic  pictures  of  Life 
and  Nature  in  the  Realms  of  Frost,  is  the  object  of 
this  book.  In  it,  culled  from  scores  of  volumes  of 
Arctic  literature,*are  condensed  the  fascinating  records 
of  a  thousand  years.  While  no  important  expedition, 
nor  even  the  experience  of  whalers,  has  been  over- 
looked, prominence  has  been  given  to  the  most  in- 
teresting ones,  and  when  practicable  the  story  is  told 
in  the  explorers'  own  words. 


32522 


J  i 


**  At  herfeet  the  Froien  Ocmd,  round  her  head  the  Auroral  Lights* 
In  her  bride-veil,  fringed  with  iciules  and  of  the  inuw-drift  spun, 
SiU  the  White  Lad/e  of  tlie  Pole,  itill  waiting  to  be  won. 


What  tultori  for  her  palace  gatei  hare  hoUted  daring  tail, 
Though  eye  of  man  has  never  seen  the  face  behind  the  veil  I 
So  long  sighed  for,  so  hard  served  for,  as  this  Queen,  was  never  nontf 
Since  the  days  of  brave  adventure  and  true  service  first  begun. 

But  still  the  white  Witch-Maiden  that  sits  above  the  Pole, 
In  the  snow-bound  silence  whose  cold  quells  aught  but  soul, 
Draws  manly  hearts  with  strange  desire  to  lift  her  icy  veil ; 
Tba  bravtit  itill  have  sought  her,  and  will  seek,  whoever  falL** 


i 


CONTENTS. 


SKETCH  or  TBI  UFK  OF  DR.   KANB. 


PAOa 


CHAPTER  I. 

TUB  ABCTIC  HBGIONB. 

The  Arctic  Circle— The  Arctic  Ocean— The  Arctic  Nlffht— The  Mid- 
night  Hun — Summer  and  Winter— Beautiful  Prov^lRlon  u(  Nature — 
Characteristic  Features — Arctic  Explorers 17 

CHAPTER  n. 

BARI.t  DIBCOVEKIBS  AND  BISTORT. 

The  Scandinavian  Mariners  and  their  Voyages — Diseovorj  of  Iceland- 
Eric  the  Red — Discovery  of  Qreenland — The  Northmen  in  Amer- 
ica— Northern  Voyasreof  Columbus — Story  of  the  early  Greenland 
Settlers — Wat  and  Pestilence — Search  for  the  lost  Colonists — Hans 
Egede— The  Moravian  Missions— A  Visit  to  Lichtenfels— The  native 
Oreenlanders — The  CalMts  and  their  Voyages — The  Labrador  Col- 
ony—French and  Portuguese  Explorers 23 

CHAPTER  in. 

KNOLISH  BXFEDITIONS  TO  THB  NORTH-EAST. 

Expedition  under  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby— A  Storm  off  the  North  Cape 
— Nova  Zembla  Scenery — A  Winter  on  the  Lapland  Coast — Fate  of 
the  Explorers — Chancelo:  !.  Visit  to  Moscow — The  Searchthrift  and 
her  Cruise— English  Adventurers  In  Asia — Lake  Baikal — Pet  and 
Jackson — Mistakes  of  a  Geographer , M 

CHAPTER  rV. 

DUTCH  EXPEDITIONS  TO  THE  NORTH-EAST. 

Wm.  Barentz— The  Orange  Islands— Noosing  a  Bear— The  Cape  of  Idols 
— Second  Expedition — A  Russian  Craft — Among  the  Samoiedes — 
Comeliz  Ryp— Discovery  of  Bear  Islands  and  Spitsbergen — Impris- 
oned—Building a  House— Life  at  Icy  Port— A  Winter  of  Hardsiiips 
—Feast  of  the  Kings— The  Ship  Deserted— Icy  Ramparts— Death  of 
Barents 47 


,f 


VI 


C0NTKNT8. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ARCTIC  VOYAGES   OF   FROIII8IIER  AND   DAVId. 

Early  English  Adventurers — Martin  Frobishcr— "  Meta  Incognita" — 
Fight  witii  Esquininux— Uelics  of  lost  Sailors— Female  rrisoncrs — 
Treachery  of  the  Natives — Frobisher's  third  Expedition — A  Storm — 
The  Expedition  Astray — "All  is  not  Gold  that  Glitters  "—Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert— Loss  of  the  "  Squirrel  "—John  Davis— The  "  Land  of 
Desolation" — A  Greenland  Dance — Voyage  witli  the  Mermaid — 
Exquimaux  Incantations — Excursion  to  the  Interior — The  Sailors* 
Warning — Desertion  of  Ships 59 

CIIAPTEU  VI. 

ARCTIC  T0TAOE8   OF  HENRY   IIUDSON   AND  OTHERS. 

Weymouth's  Expedition — A  cowardly  Crew — Fate  of  Ciipt.  Knight — 
An  Esquimaux  AUack — Hudson's  I'olar  Voyage — A  Mermaid— Voy- 
age in  the  Half-moon — Hudson's  last  Voyage — Trouble  with  the  Sail- 
ors— Discovery — In  Winter-quarters — Mutiny — The  Tragedy  in  Hud- 
son's Bay — Adventures  of  the  Mutineers 86 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ARCTIC   V0TA0E8   OF  BAFFIN  AND   OTHERS. 

Button  and  Bylot — Capt.  Gibbons'  Adventure — Baffin's  early  Voyages — 
Memorable  Discoveries — Fotherby's  Voyage — Danish  Expedition  — 
Munk's  disastrous  Voyage — The  Fox  and  James  Expedition — A 
Winter  of  Suffering— Final  Escape — A  lost  Expedition — Heme — 
Mackenzie — Pliipps — Cook 106 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ARCTIC  WIIAI.F.-FISIIERY. 

Earlj'  Fishing  Expedition — Tlip  .Siiit7.1iiT;;en  Seas — Adventures  of  Cap- 
tiiin  Edge— Dutch  Enterprise — A  Winter  in  SpifzluTgen— An  Arctic 
Tragedy — Vears  of  Peril— The  Whales'  Paradise  —  Shipwrecks — 
Memorials  of  tiic  Hollanders 122 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    ARCTIC   WIIAI.E-FlSIIF.nV.    (CONI   fltED.) 

Whale  Catching  in  Baffin's  Bay— Disasters  in  Melville  Bay— "Baffin's 
Fair" — Yankee  Whalemen- The  Dundee  Whaling  Steamers-Rescue 
of  tho  Polaris  Crew 136 

CHAITER  X, 

CRITISE   OF  THE    ISABKI.LA   AND  ALEXANDER. 

Ross  and  Parry's  Expedition— On  the  Greenland  Coast— A  Secluded 
Race — Esquimaux  Ideas  of  a  Ship — The  Arctic  Iligldanders — Signal 
of  Return 14l' 


CONTENTS. 


VU 


59 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CRCfBE   OF   THE   HECLA    AND   ORIPER. 

Farry  and  Liddon  Expedition — Entering  Lancaster  Bound — Hopes  and 
Disappointments  —  Dreary  Sliores — Tlie  Reward  E^urncd — Winter- 
quarters  and  Amusements — Tlie  Nortli  Georgian  Theatre — Fire ! 
Fire ! — A  Break-up — A  successful  Expedition 151 

CHAITER  XII. 

CHUISB   OF  THE   FUHY   AND   HECLA. 

Parry  and  Lyon's  Expedition — The  Savage-Islanders — Repulse  Boy — 
Frozen  in — Thieving  Natives — "  Tlie  Rivals" — "The  Merry  Dancers" 
— Esquimaux  Neighbors  Discovered — Astonishing  the  Natives — An 
Excursion — A  Fight  with  Walrus — Stopped  by  Ice — Again  Frozen  in 
— A  cheering  Spectacle — The  fair  Esquimaux — An  Esquimaux  Magi- 
cian— Parry's  tlurd  Expedition ...  163 


85 


105 


122 


13ff 


Secluded 
9— Signal        J 
141 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

YOV\0E  OF  THE  OOKOTIIEA  AND  TRENT. 

Buchan  and  Franklin's  Expedition — The  Rendezvous  at  Magdalena  Bay 
— An  Avalanche — On  the  Edge  of  the  Ice — A  Dangerous  Position — 
Escape  to  Fair  Hav«n 181 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
franklin's  FinsT  land  expedition. 
Arrival  at  York  Factory — Perils  of  River  Navigation — A  Winter's  Jour- 
ney— Testing  a  Conjurer's  Skill— Indian  Customs— Interview  with 
Akaitcho— The  Winter  at  Fort  Enterprise — Reception  of  a  Chief- 
Down  the  Coppermine  River — Bloody  Falls — Encounter  with  Esqui- 
maux— Voyage  on  the  Polar  Sea — The  Return  Journey  commenced — 
Crossing  a  River — Exciting  Adventures — Huilding  a  Cnnoe — Separa- 
tion of  tlio  Men — Junius  missing — A  Deserted  Fort — Starvation — 
Life  at  Fort  Enterprise 184 

CHAPTER  XV. 
franklin's  first  land  expedition  (continhed.) 
Dr.  Richardson's  Narrative — Suspicious  Conduct  of  Michel — The  Mur- 
der of  Hood— Richardson  Shoots  Michel— The  Retreat  to  the  Fort — 
Arrival  of  Indians— Relief  at  Hand— The  Journey  to  Fort  York 218 

CHAITER  XVL 
franklin's  second  land  expedition. 
Tl"  Rendezvous  at  Great  Bear  Lake— The  Winter  at  Fort  Franklin— 
At  the  Mouth  of  the  Mackenzie— Tlie  Expedition  in  Trouble — Contest 
with  the  Esquimaux — A  Brave  Interpreter — Voyage  along  the  Coast 
—Second  Winter  at  Fort  Franklin 231 


^riii 


OONTKNTS. 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

XRCTIO  TOTAOEH  OF  LYONS,  BEECHT,  AXD  OTHEKS. 

Sccresbjr'i  DitcoTeries — Excursion  on  Jan  Maycn— Among  the  Moon* 
taint— APeriloui  Descent— Deserted  Habitations — Cruiseof  theGriper 
— Sabine's  Researches  in  High  Latitudes — On  the  East  Greenland 
Coast— Scientific  Problems  Solved— Lyon's  Second  Voyage— The 
Snow-bunting— Bay  of  God's  Mercy — Beechcy's  Expedition — Ap- 
proach to  Kamchatka — The  Lawrence  I'lauders — Customs  of  the 
Alaskans — Wreck  of  the  Barge— Skirmishes  with  the  Natives 288 

CHAPTER  XVIIL 
parry's  polar  voyage. 
The  Hecla  and  Her  Outfit— In  Treurenberg  Bay— The  Start  for  the  Pole 
— A  Journey  on  Ice — Drifting  South— A  Hopeless  Undertaking — 
Hecla  Cove 255 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

EXFEDITION  OF   JOIIK   AND  JAMES   C.    ROSS. 

Expedition  of  John  and  James  C.  Ross — The  Victory — Life  at  Holstein- 
berg — Arrival  at  Fury  Beach — Frozen  In — Winter  at  Felix  Harbor — 
King  William's  Land — Discovery  of  tlie  Magnetic  Pole — The  Victory 
Deserted — Voyage  in  Open  Boats — Rescued  by  the  Isabella — Return 
of  the  Lost  Explorers 261 

CHjLPTER  XX. 

OEOROE  back's  expeditions. 

Overland  through  Canada— Woman's  Rights  at  Norway  House — The 
Batteaux  and  Canoes — Indian  Summer  Encampments — "Raising  the 
Devil" — Sad  Fate  of  Augustus — Running  the  Rapids — A  Desolate 
Region— Voyage  in  the  Terror— Fearful  Ice-drift 278 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

LAND   EXPEDITIONS   OF  DBASE,    SIMPSON,    AND  RAK. 

A  Winter's  Journey— On  the  Coasts  of  Alaska — Down  Escape  Rapids — 
Winter-Quarters  on  Great  Boar  Lake— Return  to  Red  River  Settle- 
ment— Simpson  Murdered — Dr.  Rae's  Explorations 288 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

franklin's   last   voyage,    with   a   sketch   of  nl8   LIFE. 

Birth  and  Education — Early  Passion  for  the  Sea— A  Midshipman  at 
Trafalgar — At  Battle  of  New  Orleans— Arctic  Voyages— Governor  of 
Van  Dieman's  Land— The  Erebus  and  Terror— A  Lost  Expedition. . .  206 

CHAPTER  XXIIL 

SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN. 

Expeditions  of  1848 — Voyage  of  Ross  to  Lancaster  Sound — Overland 
Seurch  by  Richardson  and  Rae — The  Herald  and  Plover 804 


CONTENTS.  ix. 

CHAPTER  XXrV. 

■EABCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN.    (CONTIinTED.) 

Auatin's  Squadron— Discoveries  at  Beechey  Island— Sledge  Expedition 
—Carrier  Pigeons — Cruise  of  tlie  Prince  Albert — The  Lad^  Franklia. .  310 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

SEARCHES   FOR  FRANKLIN.    (CONTINUED.) 

Oollinson  and  McCIure's  Expedition — Cruise  of  the  Investig^ator — On  the 
Coast  of  the  Continent- Up  Prince  of  Wales  Strait— Frozen  in— Dii-- 
covery  of  a  North-west  Passage — A  Night  Adventure — Life  at  Mercy 
Bay— McClintock's  Cairn— Third  Winter  in  the  Ice— Relief  at  Hand 
—Visit  of  Lieut.  Pim— The  Ship  Deserted— Retrtat  to  the  Resolute- 
Cruise  of  the  Enterprise — Recent  Death  of  McClure 817 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

SEASCHXS  FOR  FRANKLIN.    (CONTINUED.) 

Second  Cruise  of  the  Prince  Albert— Party  Separated  from  the  Ship^ 
A  Night  at  Cape  Seppings— Bollot's  Rescue  Party — Winter  at  Batty 
Bay— A  Visit  to  Fury  Beach— Somerset  House 883 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN.  (CONTINUED.) 

Expeditions  of  1862— Belcher's  Squadron— News  of  McClui  1— Pirn's 
Journey  to  Mercy  Bay— Kellctt's  Adrcntures- Abandonment  of  the 
Ships— Return  to  England 839 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

SEARCHES  FOR    FRANKLIN.    (CONTINUED.) 

Inglcflcld's  Voyages— Cruise  of  the  Phoenix  and  Lady  Franklin— Death 
of  Bellot— Lieut.  Cresswell- Dr.  ?«e  at  Repulse  Bay 345 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  FntST   AMERICAN   EXPEDITION. 

The  Advance  and  Rescue- Off  Newfoundland— The  Arctic  Day— Crown 
Prince  Islands— Kayaks 349 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  FIRST  AMERICAN   EXPEDITION.    (cONTINirBD.) 

Iceberg  Scenery— Wonders  of  Refraction— Arctic  Navigatiou— Bergs— 
A  Race- A  Pinch — Animal  Life — Frozen  Families 872 

CHAPTER  XXXI.  . 

THE  FIRST  AMERICAN   EXPEDITION.    (cONTIinTBD.) 

The  Crimson  Cliffs— An  Arctic  Gardon- -Trapping  the  Auks— Good-bye 
to  BafSn- Franklin's  Encampment  Discovorecl— The  Oraves 899 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

TRB  FIB8T  AMERICAN  UXPEDITION.    (CONTINUED.) 

Visit  to  the  Resolute — The  Rendezvous — A.  Gale — Order  for  Return — 
Frozen  in — Drifting — Figliting  the  Enemy—The  Aurora — Crisis — A 
Race  of  Polo  Faces — Midnight  of  the  Year — Returning  Liglit 428 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE   FIRST   AMERICAN    EXPEDITION.    (CONTINUED.) 

A  Gale — An  Escape — Floating  Bears— Esquimaux  Guests — A  Night 
Scene— In  an  Ice  Trap — The  Escape — The  Governor's  Mansion — The 
Feast — Fcits  of  the  Kayaker — Conclusion 478 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

DR.    KANE's    8ECOMD   EXPEDITION. 

Rensselaer  Harbor— Camp  on  the  Floes— Sudden  Alarm — The  Rescue 
Party— The  Wanderers  Found — A  Bivouac — Esquimaux  Visitors — 
Death  of  Baker— Adventures  of  Morton  and  Hans— Signal  Cairn— 
The  Record— The  Arrest— The  Punishment- Our  Wild  Allies — 
Hunting  Excursion — Esquimaux  Homestead— A  Bear  Fight 619 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

DR.  Kane's  second  expedition,  (coi'tinued.) 

The  Cabin  by  Night— The  Hut  in  a  Storm — Hans  Discouraged— Day 
Dreams— Joyful  News — A  Sun  AVorshiper — Famine  at  Etah— A 
Walrus  Hunt — Tlie  ])elcctal)le  Mountains — A  Deserter— A  Jlorning 
in  the  Cabin — Shunghu's  Daughter — A  Noble  Savage — Enterprising 
Hunters 672 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
DR.  Kane's  second  expedition,   (contikited.) 
Farewell  to  the  Brig — Approach  to   Etah— A   Midnight  Festival — A 
Crystal  Palace — At  the   Open    Water— Good-bye    to   Esquimaux — 
Embarkation — Weary    Man's    Rest — The    Esquimaux    Eden — Lost 
Among  Bergs—*'  The  Seal  1  "-Terra  Firma !— The  Welcome 604 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE   HARTSTENB   RELIEF   EXPEDITION. 

Narrative  of  John  K.  Kane 


635 


CHAITER  XXXVIII. 

franklin's   fate   DISCOVERED. 

Dr.  Rae's  Discoveries — The  Fox  Expedition — Franklin's  Monument — 
Winter  in  Bellot  Strait— McClintock's  Discoveries— The  Cairn  at 
Point  Victory — Crozier's  Record — A  Buriid  Hoat— Return  of  the  Fox 
— Relics  of  Franklin— The  Story  of  the  Lost  Expedition 641 


CONTENTS.  Zl 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

AROTIO  BIBBBIA   AMD   ITS  KXPLOBERS. 

Siberian  Exilei — Voyage  of  Dcshnef— Bering's  Discoveries— Chelyns- 
kin's  Explorations — The  New  Siberia  Islands— Ai\jott's  Trarels — 
Wrangell's  Explorations  —  Skill  of  Siberian  Sledge-drivers  —  The 
"Great  Russian  Polynia"— The  Lower  Yenisei 66S 

CHAPTER  XL. 

TRAVELS   IN   ALASKA. 

The  Alentian  Islands— Expeditions  of  Dall  and  Whymper — Up  the 
Tnkon— A  Winter  at  Nulato— The  Alaskans— Sitka 67S 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

DR.   hates'  EXPEDmOir. 

The  Voyage  to  Smith  Sound — Winter  at  Port  Foulke— Sledge  Journey 
— Orinnell  Land— Cape  Lieber— Return 683 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

SKETCH  OF  CHARLES   F.  HALL,    AND  HIS   EARLIER  ARCTIC  TRAVELS. 

Early  Life — Proposes  to  Search  for  Franklin — Secures  Passage  in  a 
Whaler— Captain  Buddington — The  "  George  Henry  "—Frozen  in  at 
Field's  Bay — Visit  from  Ebierbing  and  Tookoolito— Excursions — Fro- 
bisher  Relics — "Fisherman's  Luck" — Second  Winter  in  the  Ice — 
Return  Home — Second  Journey  to  the  North — The  Monticello — Resi- 
dence on  the  Northern  Coasts  of  Hudson's  Bay — A  visit  to  King  Wil- 
liam's Land— Relics  of  Franklin's  Expedition 68S 

CHAPTER  XLIIL 

THB   POLARIS    EXPEDITION. 

Captain  Hall's  Plans— The  Polaris  and  lier  Crew— Sketch  of  Officers — 
On  the  Greenland  Coast — Disco — The  Expedition  at  Upernavik — 
At  Tessuisak — Hall's  Good-bye  to  Civilization 698 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

THB  POLARIS    EXPEDITION.    (CONTINUED.) 

Adrift  on  the  Floes— Off  the  Labrador  Coast— A  Fearftil  Position— Sig- 
naling the  Tigress-  Rescued— Startling  News  from  the  Polaris — The 
Castaways  at  St.  John's— Suspicions— The  "Frolic"— At  Washington .  706 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

THE    POLARIS    EXPEDITION.    (CONTINUED.) 

The  Polaris  in  I^igh  Latitude — Tliank  Gw\  Harbor — Hall's  Journey  to 
the  North— Hall's  Last  Dispatcli— Death    of   Hall— Joe's    Story— 

•  Funeral  of  Captain  Hall— The  Winter  at  Polaris  Bay— Outside  of  the 
Ship — Returning  Day— Bear  Hunting — Excursions  to  the  North- 
Separation  from  the  Polaris — The  Drift  Southward — The  Rescue^ 
Joe  and  Hans 711 


xU 


CONTENVS. 


3 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

TUB    POLAHIS    BXPBUITIOM    (CONTINUED). 

Journal  of  Herman  Sienians,  a  Sbanian  of  the  Steamer  Polarii 761 

CHAPTER  XLVH. 

TUB    POLARIS    EXPEDITION.    (CONTINUED.) 

Diary  of  John  Herron,  One  of  the  Polaris  Ice-drift  Party 760 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

POLAKia    SEARCH    AND    RELKIF    EXPEDITIONS. 

Cruise  o^'the  Juniata  and  Tigress — The  Little  Juniata — The  Tigress  on 

the  Trail— Buddington's  Camp— Signaling  the  Juniata  at  Night 769 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE  POLAIU8   EXPEDITION   (CONCLUDED.) 

Captain's  Buddington's  Narrative— The  Polaris  Wrecked  and  Deserted 
— Preparing  for  Winter — Visit  from  the  Natives — The  Winter  at  Life- 
Boat  Cove— The  Start  Homeward — Rescued  by  the  Kavenscraig. . , ,  776 

CHAPTER  L. 

QEHMAN  AitCTlf   KXPEDITON8. 

Kiildewey's  Expedition— Loss  of  the  "  Hnnsa"- Cruise  of  the  "Ger 

mania  "—Payer's  Expedition— Cruise  of  the  "  Tegethoff" 787 

CHAPTER  LL 

SWEDISH    AND   NORWKGIAN    EXPKDITIONS, 

Captain  Carlsen's  'Voyage — Relics  of  Dutch  Explorers— Nordenskiold't 
Expedition  to  Spitzbergen — Wintor  at  Mussel  Bay— Startling  Nt  ws — 
The  Ice-Bound  Eishermen  and  Their  Fate — Nordenskiold's  Expe- 
dition to  the  Yenisei — Life  in  Sihcria— A  Second  Voyage 788 

CHAPTER  LIl. 

THE    BN0I.I8II    EXPEDITION    OF    1875  —76. 

The  Alert  and  Discovery — Officers  and  Crew — In  High  Latitude — The 
Arctic  Night — Polaris  Bay  Revisited— Captain  Hall's  Grave— An 
Exciting  Day — Markham's  North  Pole  Party  — On  the  Palteocrystic 
Sea— The  Turning  Point— Death  of  a  Seaman— Tlie  Return  Jour- 
ney— The  Western  Exploring  Party— Explorations  in  Greenland. . , .  801 
CHAPTER  LIU 

NORDENSRIOI.D's    DISCOVERY    OF    A    NORTH-EAST    PA88AOK 

Sketch  of  the  Explorer — The  Vega  and  Her  Crew — Dickson  Harbor — 
R<iundin<;  of  Cape  Chelyuskin— Arrival  at  the  Lena — Navigation  of 
River — Frozen  In — The  Winter  Harl)or — Li  e  amid  the  Ice — The 
Tcliuktches— Auroral  Phenoniena— The  Release — Homeward  Voyage  817 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

DE    I.ONO'S    NORTH    I'OI.B    E.XPKDITION- THE   JBANNBTTE. 

An  Arctic  Expedition  Decided  on  by  Jaiiies  Gordon  Bennett — Purchase 
of  the  Pandora — The  Jeannette — At  Mure  Island— Officers  and  Crew 
—  Objects  of  the  Expedition— Departure  of  the  Expedition— San  Kraf.- 
cisi.'o's  Good-l)ye  to  the  Jeannette~At  Ounalaska,  St.  Michael's, 
and  St.  Lawrence  Bay — Last  Words  from  the  Explorers  — Missing 
Whalers — The  Relief  Steamer  Corwin 8f7 


7fil 


760 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


gress  on 
{ht 769 


Deserted 
r  at  Life- 
raig 776 


he  "Ger 


787 


nskiold't 

{  Nj W8 — 

i's  Expe- 


793 


ude— The 
rave— An 
aeocrystic 
urn  Jour- 
iland 801 

AOR 

Harbor — 
igatiun  of 
Ice— The 
d  Voyage  817 

TB. 

rurchaae 
and  Creir 
Sun  Frnr.- 
dicliael's, 
—Missing 

«sr 


Pass. 

1  Thb  Polaris  inIIioii  LATiTvnEB (FronUtpUee.) 

i  POIITKAIT  UP   Ok.  K ANK, 1 

8  UousB  IN  Havana  wuerb  Dk.  Kahb  Died 10 

4  TUE  It E«CL'E 18 

6  PouTiiAi  r  OK  Sill  John  Fiunklin, 19 

6  Scene  on  the  (ikisenlanu  Coast, S6 

7  View  op  Fihkehn aes,  Qreenland, 88 

8  Moravian  Shttlkmbnt  at  Licutenfels, 88 

0  Ships  Amonu  Dkikis, 89 

10  Winter  in  Mom-ow, 44 

11  Snips  Entanoled  in  Ice, 46 

12  Lake  Baikal,  Eastern  Siberia, 47 

18  Votive  t'ltosH  and  Miuniuut  Sum— Nortdern  Russia, 68 

14  The  Land  op  Desolation 78 

16  Freioiited  IceiiKito, 73 

19  The  Middle  1'alk, 81 

17  A  Sketch »1 

18  Esquimaux  Doo-Teams, 93 

19  RsquiMAUx  S.sow-lIousES, 93 

80  Arctic  Auiioua, 109 

31  View  on  tiik  Spitzberqen  Coast, 109 

33  AppROAriiiNu  Winter— Jaxeb'  Bat, 116 

33  Arctic  1'aiuielia 116 

3t  TUE    ICKltolND    iUllBOR 116 

35  The  Kavaklii  in  a  Gale, 131 

86  A  WliALiNo  Scene 141 

87  Kayak  and  Uumiak 143 

38  Whalers  Stopped  by  the  Pack, 143 

89  An  Ice  Cathedral 144 

80  C •  PE  Isabella, 147 

81  Cai-^  Alexander 147 

8S  Track  op  the  Hecla  and  Griper, 157 

33  Parry's  Ships  in  Winter  Quarters, 167 

84  Stranded, 168 

85  The  "Merry  Dancers," 167 

38  Watchino  for  Indian  Horse-Thieves, 188 

87  Hunting  on  Snow-Shoks 191 

SS  Disguised  Bipfai.o  Hunters, 191 

89  Hunters'  Winter  Camp SOO 

40  A  IluNORY  Explorer 917 

41  Overland  Explorers, 330 

42  A  Station  op  the  Hddsom's  Bat  Company, 831 

43  The  M ariner's  Compass, 337 

4t  Petropaulski,  Kamchatka, 860 

45  UONIY-COMBFO  ICEBERO, 354 


H 


ZIT 


ILLUSTBATIONS. 


^        i 


46  Jackahd  Bu  "Dcm," 160 

47  Am  IcB  Bbidoi, STT 

4B  IMDIAM  SUIIXKB  ElCCAjmiBST gSO 

49  Hoosi  IluMTUio  IH  C'AaoiM 980 

so  A  LiAO  Tbbodoh  THE  Kuie.. .      9t)T 

61  WiNTBBCoDBUiuor  THc  Ft-BCoarAXT, 888 

6i  Ehoubd  Bbbo 800 

63  Bniuioou, 816 

64  BcBCHBT  ISLAMD 840 

66  Thb  Icb-Babbibb, 340 

66  Tbb  Adtahcb  AMD  Ubkcc*  at  Katt  T abb, 868 

6T  OubFibst  Icebcbo, 888 

68  Thk  ScKKEBTorm 860 

60  Sntibimo  Disco, 860 

60  Disco  Hdt«,    .  860 

61  Imspeotobs'  Bocrb,  Ukvelt 880 

63  Amomo  TBB  BcBos 8SR 

68  GnoDPOP  StAis 870 

64  loBBBBo, an 

66  Olaoibbs  or  Jaoob'i  Buibt. 878 

06  In  A  Foo, 878 

87  Tbackho 881 

68  Katacu, 881 

60  Womam'bBoat 38a 

10  Tbb  Dbtu.'!  Tbcmb, 884 

71  Mblvuxb  Bat, 804 

72  EsquiMADXoa  HKorr-HiioEt, 896 

73  LooKiMO  pobWateb, 408 

74  Bbmib's  Cotb 408 

75  Tbb  Adtamce  w  Fbbbcabt 465 

76  Wintebim  the  Pacb. 483 

77  Biiu>'b-Ete  View  of  Icb-Flob, 484 

78  EsqciKAUx  Beactiei 480 

70  The  Oovebhob's  Soxi 408 

80  8A1.0TIM0  TBB  Pbovekebe, 406 

81  GoOD-BtB  TO  TBB  I'BISCE  Alsebt 499 

83  Intebiobop  A  Native  Hct,  L'psbbatol, .*. 490 

83  Tbb  OoTBBMOB'a  Mabsiob, 606 

84  nABPooHwo  Beau 81T 

85  Fastemed  TO  AH  IcEBEna 631 

86  PASTDia  Hawsebs, 631 

87  Stltia  IIba]}laki>— IXPPEcTtxo  A  ILabbob, 837 

88  Tbb  AoyAHCE  Fbozeb  IS  AT  BexMELABB  Habbob, 637 

80  In  tbb  Tent, 58S 

to  Pinnaclt  Bebo, 683 

01  The  Rescue  Pabtt 684 

03  Loading  the  Faith, 548 

03  First  Heetino  wiTB  Ea^-iBArx, 648 

04  Tent  ON  the  Fu>e«, S40 

06  The  Beabin  Cabp, 049 

06  Gathbrino  Moss, 549 

97  Morton  and  IIanb  Ektebix*  Ke!»]»ept  CHABinn., 663 

08  Morton  andUahs  LEAnxo  '^cCBAinnD,, 658 

99  Kennedy  Cbanhel, B61 

100  View  PBOM  Cape  Conn'm-Tum 661 

101  An  EsquiiiAUZ  IIomivteau 667 

109  Wild  Doo  Teah, 667 

108  Abctic  Uoohlmbt, 6T8 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XT 


M  Tm  loB-FooT  Cakoft, 57S 

.05  The  Bbib  im  hbb  Wmtm  Craou, 6T» 

06  Appboachiko  TBI  DmebtcdUut 678 

07  Tm  Opes  Wateb *. 579 

08  Abctio  Hea-Oulu 685 

lOB  Eider  Iilahd  Ducki 685 

10  Tbe  Walbus  IIctnteb 691 

U  The  Atluk.  ob  Seal-Hole 600 

13  Sbootino  Seal 690 

13  Walrus  Spobtino 699 

14  EgQUIBAUX    PoBTBAIPI— PaDLIK— ANAK— ACCOMObAU, 606 

16  Obeenland  CillLOBEM  Platino  Ball 600 

16  Catchino  Auke 600 

IT  Boat -Camp  in  a  Stobm 617 

18  OOOD-BTE  TO  TBE  ERqUIBADX, 617 

19  Birds  or  Pbovidencb  Clipps 627 

ao  Passino  tbe  Cbivsom  Clipps, 627 

21  Cape  Welcome 638 

33  Our  First  Katak, 688 

38  The  Faitb, 684 

34  A  Small  Water  Partt, 689 

35  Discovert  op  Franklin's  Caihn 648 

36  Relics  op  tbe  Lost  Ezploreiis 618 

87  The  Erebus  and  Terror  in  tue  Ice-Stream, 667 

38  Funeral  op  Sir  John  Fbanklin, 657 

39  A  Polar  Bear  Picnic 603 

30  Exiles  En  route  pob  Siberia, 663 

81  A  Siberian  Fort, 675 

33  Traveling  in  Kamchatka, 6~S 

33  Aleutians  Catchino  Whales, i 678 

84  Fort  Nulato,  Alaska— Acboral  Liout, 679 

Vi  A  Deer  Corral, 681 

88  View  op  Sitka,  Alaska, 683 

87  Portrait  op  Captain  Charles  F.  Hall 69S 

88  Portrait  op  Captain  S.  O.  Buddinoton, 608 

30  Portrait  op  Captain  Oeorob  E.  Ttson, 698 

40  SiQN ALINQ  the  Tigress 706 

41  Funeral  op  Captain  IIali«  at  Polaris  Bat, 718 

43  A  Bear  Hunt 780 

43  Meeting  op  the  Floes, 749 

l44  Formation  op  Hummocks, 768 

i45  LiPE  on  the  Driptino  Ice-Field, 769 

46  Portraits  op  Joe,  H annab,  and  Stlvia, 773 

.47  The  Hansa  Crushed— Escape  op  the  Crew, 787 

48  Count  Wilczec  in  Nova  Zembla 791 

49  Relics  op  the  Dutch  Expedition, 798 

60  Barentz's  House  at  Ice  Haven 798 

And  Twenty  Smaller  Kngravlngs. 

MAPS,  Etc. 

CiRcuMPOLAB  Map 1 

Map  op  the  American  Arctic  Sea SB 

Ancient  Map  op  Spitzbeboen, 188 

Chart  op  the  Whale-Fish  Islands, 366 

Chart  Showing  the  Ducovbbies  op  Kane,  Hates,  and  Hall, 640 

Fao  similes, 649-66D 


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SV 


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:^.       ^^J^.     ^  ^-^^1^_^_ 


«ICKT<.  !'    •■>    r  H  k:    I.!  vv.   or 
::  FNT    KANK,    M.D.,    IT.  S.  N., 


IK    ulruattf    *    BiV'title   taic.      I'U^ry  n^n    is 

'■  .t  V'>ung  kmghi-erranf  of  pliiliinlhropy 

>rf- llio  w!v>k' wrfncfc  of  tlie  gloljo,  wi*!iiii 

.r«;  wlio  j<nthcr(Kl    Iieic  anJ  there  a 

reiOfcrch  iTi  wliioJi  lit'  Btraye«l ;  who 

;     >•     .  vf^cntun*,  ttbslrai'tiiig  in  the  spirit 

.'t-  ««**b»:-  *.'         '  'f  I»ofpy,  and  loving  with  the 

.   wh'>  fiwvtiHC.  '.     •«',;c;   ^U'h  impiiUes.  im  I'li  to  the 

'H%!  pluuct  wmJ  ri.y»*«i.i>i?  >«»«xluJcJ  aiuiiist  tbo  horrors 

. ;  who  rctarntid  Jik*  tw*  ji'nu;  l»jwk  frum  another 

«  rv  »t>orv  of  \.'\*  :•  iji  t*><»  diBThi*  of  lltora- 

ow'' ••     .te.   • '.    ■  ■    '.•*'«)    ':  l-i  iusoaoa  wo 

..-.>(■  fete  ?t4itt«r, 

tirwii4  be  »flt«*fl,  r,'oul]  ho 

• .  tiii»  memoir,  aii«l  nuthing  more, 

;:      •  ,       «.-  -h   ft  ftkctt'h  US  may  BtTve  to 

'.i  t;  iiif  «  .rk»  t';  the  r(Na<]t>t.     As  we  trace  the 

•uruphi'  -H,  ihoti^'h  in  llio  briefwsf  manner,  it  will  he 

•  HxA  oh^-     ^«»/i  <><i(tt«u«in,   the  leading  events  in  his  career, 

;>'  tT>.  :.        ..r,  hi.-*  puhli'"  w^rvioes,  luii'  '  is  private 

•-"'•I  i.;<i   an  iiapr«'««i.>u  whicli  is  suue<t  at 

.  hi«  fuv  lisrpbtimtu  thu"  IcsHOiis  he  has  ief^  to  the 

\ 


^ 


^-t^.  *-^"v€.,.e-4gL-> 


*^ 


A     SKETCH     OF     THE     LIFE     OF 

ELISHA    KENT    KANE,    M.D.,   U.  S.  N., 


av 


%(-'■ 


PROP.   CHARLES  \ir.   SHIELDS,   D.  D.,   OI"  PRINCETON  COLLEGE,   N.  J. 

The  Life  of  Dr.  Kane  is  already  a  fireside  tale.  Every  one  is 
familiar  with  it  as  the  story  of  a  young  knight-errant  of  philanthropy 
and  science,  who  traversed  nearly  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe,  within 
the  shoil  period  of  fourteen  years ;  who  gathered  here  and  there  a 
Ifturei  from  every  walk  of  physical  research  in  which  he  strayed ;  who 
piungod  into  the  thick  of  perilous  ndventure,  abstracting  in  the  spirit 
of  i>hiiosophy,  yet  seeing  with  the  eye  of  poesy,  and  loving  with  the 
heart  of  humanity ;  who  penetrated,  under  such  impulses,  even  to  the 
Northern  pole  of  the  planet  and  remained  secluded  amidst  the  horrore 
of  two  Arctic  winters ;  who  returned  like  one  come  back  from  another 
world,  to  invest  the  very  story  of  his  escape  with  the  charms  of  litera- 
ture and  art,  and  transport  us,  by  his  graphic  pen,  into  scenes  wo 
scarceh  realize  as  belonging  to  the  earth  we  inhabit;  and  who  died  at 
length,  in  the  flush  of  his  manhood  and  the  morning  of  his  fame, 
lamented  by  his  country  and  the  world. 

To  write  the  story  of  such  a  life  as  it  should  be  written,  would  bo 
impossible  within  the  limits  assigned  to  this  memoir,  and  nothing  more, 
therefore,  will  be  here  attempted  than  such  a  sketch  as  may  serve  to 
introduce  this  new  edition  of  his  works  to  the  reader.  As  we  trace  the 
usual  biographical  themes,  though  in  the  briefest  manner,  it  will  be 
found  that  liia  origin  and  education,  the  leading  events  in  his  career, 
the  prominent  traits  of  his  character,  his  public  services,  and  his  private 
life  and  la.st  moments,  tog<;ther  yield  an  impression  which  is  suited  at 
once  to  justify  his  fame  bad  perpetuate  the  lessons  he  has  left  to  the 
world.  1 


LIFE    OF    DR,     KANE. 


Elisiia  Kent  Kane,  the  leader  in  the  American  search  for  Sir  John 
Franklin,  wfis  born  in  Phiiadelpliia,  Feb.  3,  A.  D.  1820.  lie  received 
the  name  of  his  grandfather,  wlio  had  himself  been  named  after  his  ma- 
ternal granilfatlier,  the  Reverend  EUsha  Kent,  of  "  Kent's  Parish,"  N.  Y., 
and  ho  was  baptized  by  his  uncle,  the  Reverend  Jacob  J.  J;,neway, 
D.  D.j  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  which  his 
parents  attended. 

On  the  father's  side  he  was  descended  from  Colonel  John  Kane,  of 
the  British  Army,  his  great-grandfather,  who  came  from  Ireland  to  the 
colony  of  New  York  about  the  year  1756,  retired  to  Dutchess  County, 
and  there  married  Miss  Sybil  Kent,  daughter  of  the  clergyman  above 
named,  and  aunt  of  Chancellor  Kent.  His  grandfather,  ElishaK.  Kane, 
was  a  successful  merchant  in  Albany  and  New  York,  who  married  Miss 
Alida  Van  Rensselaer,  daughter  of  General  Robert  Van  Rensselaer,  of 
Claverack,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Philadelphia.  His  father,  the 
late  lion.  John  K.  Kane,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  successively 
a  member  of  the  Phihadelphia  bar,  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  and 
Judge  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  well  known  aa  an  acute  and  learned  jurist  within  his  profes- 
sion, as  an  intluential  statesman  of  the  old  school  of  politics,  an  active 
promoter  of  the  arts,  sciences,  and  charities  in  Philadelphia,  an  accom- 
plished scholar  in  classical  and  English  literature,  and  a  courtly  gentle- 
man in  society.  And  the  culture,  etficiency,  and  tact  which  distin- 
guished him  in  every  relation  of  life  were  not  wanting  in  his  honored 
son. 

On  the  mother's  side  he  was  descended  from  Thomas  Leiper,  a 
younger  son  of  a  Scotch  family  of  French  origin,  who  came  in  search 
of  fortune  about  the  year  1764,  to  the  colony  of  Virginia,  and  thence 
to  I'cnnsylviinia ;  built  extensive  mills  near  Pliiladclpliia;  aided  in 
forming  the  First  City  Troop,  and  served  with  distinguished  gallantry 
in  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton  ;  united,  after  the  war,  with 
his  warm  personal  friend,  I'rosident  Jefferson,  in  organizing  the  polit- 
ical party  which  looked  to  him  for  its  leader ;  and  as  a  zealous  advo- 
cate of  public  improN  "uients,  laid  down  the  first  experimental  railway 
constructed  in  tiie  United  States.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Coltas 
Gray,  the  daughter  of  the  lion.  George  Gray,  of  Gray's  Ferry,  and  of 
Martha  Ibbetson  Gray,  whose  generous  services  in  nursing  the  sick  and 
wounded  prisoners  during  the  occupation  of  Philadelphia  by  Lord 
Howe,  attracted  public  testimonials  from  both  parties.  Their  daughter, 
Jane  Duval  Leiper,  as  Mrs.  Kane,  illustrated  the  traits  proverbial  in 
the  mothers  of  great  men  by  combining  with  the  virtues  of  the  Spartan 


^ 


Tor  Sir  John 
le  received 
fter  his  ma- 
•isli,"  N.  Y., 
J.'.neway, 
which  his 

1  Kane,  of 
anil  to  the 
ss  County, 
man  above 
a  K.  Kane, 
arriei]  Miss 
issolaor,  of 
fatiier,  the 

iiccessively 

State,  and 

)f  Pennsyl- 

his  profes- 

>,  an  active 

an  accoin- 

•tly  gentle- 

lich  distin- 

is  honored 

'  Lciper,  a 
>  in  search 
md  thence 

aided  in 

gallantry 
war,  with 

the  polit- 
loiis  advo- 
^1  railway 
^tli  Coltas 
y,  and  of 

sick  and 

by  Lord 
laughter, 
erbial  in 
3  Spartan 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KANE.  3 

matron,   that  energy,  nerve,  elasticity,   and   warm-heartedness  which 
became  famous  in  her  son. 

On  both  sides,  liis  ancestry  in  this  country,  it  will  be  seen,  dates 
before  the  American  Revolution,  being  derived  in  the  paternal  line  from 
Ireland,  Holland,  and  England,  and  in  the  maternal  line  from  Scotland, 
England,  and  France,  while  the  corresponding  religions  blended  in  it 
were  the  Episcopalian,  Dutch  Reformed,  and  Congregational,  with  the 
Presbyterian,  Quaker,  xMethodist,  and  Moravian.  And  the  names  wl'.lch 
it  embraces  are  here  mentioned,  not  merely  because  ho  has  h'inself 
written  them,  with  a  just  pride,  upon  the  map  of  the  Arctic  seas,  but 
also  as  serving  to  explain  that  rare  combination  of  varied  and  even 
opposite  elements  of  race,  of  creed,  and  of  culture,  which  entered  into 
the  formation  of  his  character. 

When  Mr.  Kane  and  Miss  Leiper  first  mot,  they  were  in  the  prime 
of  youthful  strength  and  beauty  ;  and  after  a  courtship,  the  romance 
of  which  lias  become  a  family  tradition,  they  were  married,  April  20, 
1819.  Elisha  was  the  eldest  of  their  children.  Three  other  sons  and 
a  marrietl  daughter  are  still  living. 

In  Dr.  Kane,  as  in  most  men  wlio  acjnevc  greatness,  the  boy  fore- 
shadowed the  man.  Arctic  explorations  wore  prefigured  by  juvenile 
feats  of  daring  and  contrivance.  His  biographer  relates  that  when  but 
a  child,  he  scaled  the  roof  by  moonlight  with  his  younger  brother, 
while  the  family  were  asleep,  feeling  repaid  for  the  perilous  adventure 
by  the  "  grand  view  "  from  the  chimney-top.  Traits  which  afterwards 
shone  o>it  before  the  world,  already  appeared  in  the  school-room  and 
on  the  playground,  where  he  became  a  spirited  little  champion  of  the 
weak  and  oppressed,  repelling  imposition  from  any  quarter  with  nncal- 
culating  courage,  and  yet  as  quick  to  forgive  as  to  resent  an  injury. 
His  tiistes,  too,  began  to  show  the  bias  of  coming  years.  He  had  his 
own  small  cabinet  of  minerals,  birds,  and  insects,  and  his  chemical  lab- 
oratory, the  latter  to  the  frequent  alarm  of  the  household — and  his 
favorite  books  were  Robinson  Crusoe  and  Pilgrim's  Progress. 

But  if  it  is  easy  now  to  trace  the  beginnings  of  his  career,  it  was  not 
80  easy  then  to  forecast  it.  Fonder  of  sports  than  of  books,  full  of 
generous  but  ill-i-egulatod  impulses,  and  impatient  of  control,  his 
course  as  yet  was  like  that  of  a  mountain  torrent  which  has  not  found 
and  made  its  channel ;  and  it  was  only  when  he  began  by  his  own 
efforts  to  retrieve  his  neglected  education,  that  parental  anxiety  was 
relieved. 

His  father  would  have  had  him  follow  in  his  own  footsteps  at  Yale; 
but  his  incliuatioa  was  more  towards  science  than  learning,  and  the 


LIFE    OP    DR.    KANE. 


optional  course  of  study  which  the  University  of  Virginia  allowed,  was 
found  better  adapted  to  his  somewhat  exceptional  genius.  He  was  in 
his  seventeenth  year  when  he  entered  the  university,  and  during  the 
year  and  a  half  that  he  studied  there,  made  good  progress  in  the  clas- 
sical and  mathematical  course  prescribed,  as  well  as  in  his  own  chosen 
sciences  of  chemistry,  mineralogy,  geology,  and  civil  engineering.  It 
was  at  this  time  ho  said  to  his  cousin  that  ho  "intended  to  make  his 
mark  in  the  world."  And  the  resolution  seems  to  have  derived  im- 
pulse from  an  event  which  abruptly  ended  his  collegiate  coui-se  a  little 
before  the  time  of  graduation.  Prostrated  by  an  acute  rheumatism  of 
the  heart,  he  was  wrapped  in  a  blanket  and  taken  by  slow  journeys 
home  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  endured  frightful  paroxysms  of  pain, 
and  for  days  appeared  to  be  on  the  brink  of  death.  He  recovered,  to 
learn  from  his  physicians  that  he  might  fall  as  suddenly  as  by  a  musket 
shot.  Tiie  decision  with  which  he  went  back  to  the  duties  of  life  was 
only  anticipated  by  his  father's  counsel :  "  Elislia,  if  you  must  die,  die 
in  harness." 

Turning  from  the  profession  of  a  civil  engineer  to  that  of  a  physician, 
in  his  nineteenth  year,  he  was  matriculated  in  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  after  attending  one  course  of 
lectures,  while  yet  sn  undergraduate,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Resi- 
dent Physicians  in  the  Hospital  at  Blockley.  His  preceptors  and  asso- 
ciates have  ail  publicly  spoken  of  the  remarkable  zeal  and  success  with 
which  he  prosecuted  his  studies  and  performed  his  duties  in  these  posi- 
tions. Indeed  his  graduating  thesis  on  the  subject  of  "Kyestcin"  was 
80  highly  esteemed  that  it  was  published  by  a  vote  of  the  Faculty,  and 
attracted  the  general  notice  of  the  profession.  It  is  still  quoted  as  an 
authority  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

It  had  become  plain  that  Dr.  Kane's  cardiac  disorder  combined  with 
his  scientific  tastes  and  aspirations  to  unfit  him  for  the  routine  life  of  a 
practitioner,  and  that  travel,  adventure,  and  incessant  activity  were  with 
him  a  physical  need  as  well  as  a  moral  impulse.  He  had  no  taste  for 
the  social  blandishments  under  which  young  men  born  to  ease  and  ele- 
gance too  often  waste  their  prime,  and  the  stagnant  political  condition 
of  the  country  at  that  time  afforded  none  of  the  generous  careers  which 
have  since  been  opened  to  them.  Neither  could  he  accept  for  himself 
the  fate  of  a  mere  invalid  tourist  or  reckless  adventurer,  intent  on 
crowding  into  a  short  lifetime  the  utmost  amount  of  mere  aimless 
diversion.  There  must,  if  possible,  be  a  color  of  scientific  enthusiasm 
to  sanction  his  life  of  physical  hardihood. 

His  father,  acting  upon  this  enlightened  view  of  his  case,  applied  for 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KANE. 


him  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  the  post  of  surgeon  in  the  ser- 
vice ;  and  after  passing  the  required  examination  so  creditably  that  the 
disquahfying  state  of  his  health  was  overlooked  by  the  Board  of 
Examiners,  he  was  appointed  physician  of  the  Chinese  Embassy, 
which  sailed  in  the  frign*'  Brandywine,  Commodore  Parker,  in  May, 
1843. 

During  the  two  years  that  he  was  absent  upon  this  his  first  extended 
tour  of  travel,  he  made  a  complete  circuit  of  the  globe,  sailing  around 
the  coast  of  South  America,  across  the  Pacific  Oceau  to  Southern  and 
Eastern  Asia,  and  returning  by  the  overland  route  through  Europe, 
across  the  Atlantic  to  the  United  States.  And  that  spirit  of  dauntless 
research  which  actuated  him  through  life  seems  every  where  to  have 
brought  with  it  its  own  proper  atmosphere  of  marvelous  incident  and 
peril. 

While  the  vessel  remained  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  after  participating  with 
the  diplomatic  corps  in  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  he 
visited  the  Eastern  Andes  for  a  geological  survey  of  that  region.  At 
Bombay,  where  the  legation  awaited  some  months  the  arrival  of  its 
chief,  Mr.  Cushing,  by  the  overland  route,  ha  seized  the  opportunity  for 
similar  inland  journeys,  exploring  the  cavcrned  temples  of  Elephanta, 
traveling  by  palanquin  to  the  less  known  ruins  at  Karli,  passing  over 
to  Ceylon,  and  engaging,  with  some  ofliccrs  of  the  garrison,  in  the  ele- 
phant hunt,  and  the  other  wild  sporte  of  the  island.  But  it  was  at 
Luzon  or  Luconia,  a  Spanish  possession  in  the  China  Sea,  that  this 
adventurous  spirit,  though  under  a  scientific  impulse,  passed  tlie  limits 
of  prudence  in  his  far-famed  exploration  of  the  crater  of  Tael,  a  vol- 
cano on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  island,  in  a  region  inhabited  only  by 
savages.  Crossing  over  to  the  capital  city  of  the  island,  during  one  of 
the  long  delays  of  Chinese  diplomacy,  he  procured  an  escort  of  natives 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Manilla,  (by  means  of  letters  from  American 
prelates  which  he  had  secured  before  leaving  home,)  and  in  company 
with  his  friend  Baron  Loe,  a  relative  of  Metternich,  penetrated  across 
the  country  to  the  asphaltic  lake  in  which  the  island  volcano  is  situ- 
ated. Both  gentlemen  at  first  descended  together,  until  they  reached 
a  precipice  overhanging  the  cavernous  gulf  of  the  crater,  when  the 
baron  saw  further  progress  to  be  impossible,  but  the  doctor,  in  spite 
of  the  remonstrances  of  the  whole  party,  insisted  upon  being  lowered 
over  the  ledge  by  means  of  a  rope  made  of  bamboos,  and  held  in  the 
hands  of  the  natives  under  the  baron's  direction,  until  he  reached  the 
bottom,  two  hundred  feet  below.  Loosing  himself  from  the  cord,  he 
forced  his  way  downwards  through  the  sulphurous  vapors,  over  the  hot 


6 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


ashes,  to  the  green,  boiling  lake,  dipped  his  specimen-bottle  into  its 
waters,  returned  to  the  rope,  several  times  stumbling,  almost  stifled, 
and  with  his  boots  charred,  one  of  them  to  a  coal,  but  succeeded  in 
again  fastening  himself,  and  was  hauled  up  by  his  assistants  and  re- 
ceived into  their  hands  exhausted  and  almost  insensible.  Remedies 
brought  from  the  neighboring  hermitage  were  applied,  and  he  was  so 
far  restored  that  they  could  proceed  on  their  journey,  lint  rumors 
spread  before  tliem  among  the  pigmy  savages  on  the  island,  of  the  pro- 
fane invasion  whicli  had  been  <nade  into  the  sacred  mysteries  of  the 
Tael,  and  an  angry  mob  gathered  around  them,  which  was  only  dis- 
persed by  one  or  two  pistol  sliots  and  the  timely  arrival  of  the  padres. 
The  trophies  of  this  expedition  were  some  valuable  mineral  specimens, 
a  bottle  of  sulphur  water,  a  series  of  graphic  views  from  recollection 
in  his  sketch-book,  and  a  written  description  of  the  volcano  by  one  of 
the  friars,  which,  after  many  wanderings,  was  put  in  his  hands  as  he  sat 
at  the  home  dinner-table,  twelve  years  afterwards. 

Resigning  his  post  in  the  diplomatic  mission,  Dr.  Kane  practiced  his 
profession  in  Whampoa,  until  he  was  sufficiently  in  funds  to  pursue  his 
journey  homeward  through  Calcutta  by  the  overland  route.  After 
exploring  the  interior  of  India,  including  the  Himalaya  mountains,  he 
was  admitted  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Dent,  a  British  official,  into  the  suite 
of  Prince  Tagore,  one  of  the  native  Hindoo  nobles,  then  on  his  way  to 
the  court  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  traveled  under  this  safe  conduct 
through  Persia  and  Syria,  as  far  as  Upper  Egypt.  At  Alexandria  he 
received,  through  an  introduction  by  Prince  Tagore  to  the  Pasha  Me- 
hemet  Ali,  a  special  firman  by  which  lie  was  enabled  safely  to  traverse 
the  region  of  Egyptian  ruins.  But  the  journals  of  a  large  part  of  this 
expedition,  as  of  the  whole  previous  tour,  were  unfortunately  lost  by 
the  upsetting  of  his  boat  in  the  Nile.  In  the  ruined  temple  of  Karnak 
he  met  with  Professor  Lepsius,  the  renowned  Egyptologist,  with  whom 
he  traveled  some  time,  and  at  Luxor  he  proved  that  archroological  re- 
search is  sometimes  more  curious  than  effective,  by  climbing,  as  had 
never  been  done  before,  between  the  colossal  knees  of  the  statue  of 
Memnon,  in  hopes  of  finding  some  hieroglyph  on  the  under  side  of  the 
tablet  in  the  lap  of  the  figure. 

His  sensitive  organization,  throughout  life,  seems  to  have  reflected 
with  peculiar  intensity  the  disease  of  every  country  through  which  he 
traveled.  As  at  Macao  he  had  been  prostrated  by  the  rice-fever,  so  at 
Alexandria  he  was  seized  with  an  attack  of  the  plague.  When  suffi- 
ciently recovered  to  pursue  his  jonrneyings,  he  set  out  for  Greece,  and 
made  the  tour  of  that  classic  land  on  foot.     Athens,  PlattBa,  Mount 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


•ttle  into  its 

nost  stifled, 

iccceded  in 

ants  and  re- 

llciaedics 

he  was  so 

Hut  rumors 

,  of  the  pro- 

eries  of  the 

as  only  dis- 

tho  padres. 

specimens, 

I  recollection 

10  by  one  of 

nds  as  lie  sat 

practiced  his 
to  pursue  his 
■oute.  After 
lountains,  he 
into  the  suite 
3n  his  way  to 
safe  conduct 
Ucxandria  he 
ic  Pasha  Me- 
ly  to  traverse 
^  part  of  this 
itely  lost  by 
lie  of  Karnak 
;,  with  whom 
aeological  re- 
ibing,  as  had 
lie  statue  of 
3r  side  of  the 

ave  reflected 
^h  which  he 
e-fever,  so  at 

When  sufli. 

Greece,  and 
ttica,  Mount 


Helicon,  Thermopylae,  Parnassus,  were  successively  visited,  after  which 
he  passed  to  Trieste,  and  thince  through  Germany  to  Switzerland, 
where  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps  yielded  him  the  ice-theories  which  he 
afterwanh  tested  in  the  Arctic  regions. 

His  design  hail  been  to  return  to  Manilla,  in  the  island  of  Luzon, 
with  a  license  from  the  Spanish  authorities  to  practice  his  profession  ; 
but  failing  in  this,  or  relinquishing  it,  he  at  length  yielded  to  urgent 
sohcitations  from  home,  and  returned  by  way  of  Italy,  France,  and 
England,  to  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Kane  was  at  this  time  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  had  already 
developed  the  traits  for  which  he  was  subsequently  distinguished.  The 
Reverend  George  Joiies,  chaplain  to  the  Chinese  Embassy,  speaks  of 
him  as  "then  very  youthful-looking,  with  a  smootii  face,  a  florid  com- 
plexion, very  delicate  form,  smaller  than  the  common  size  ;  but  with  an 
elastic  step,  a  briglit  eye,  and  great  enthusiasm  in  manner,  which  also 
mixed  itself  with  his  conversation.  Uq  seemed  to  be  all  hope,  all 
ardor,  and  his  eye  appealed  already  to  take  in  the  whole  world  as  his 
own."  And  anoth>'r  of  his  associates  in  the  diplomatic  mission, 
Fletcher  Webster,  Esq.,  has  said  that  "  in  social  intercourse,  although 
agreeable  and  very  bright  when  called  out,  he  still  seemed  to  be  think- 
ing of  .something  aoove  and  beyond  what  was  present.  To  his  great 
scientiflc  taste  and  knowledge,  and  his  energy  and  resolution,  he  added 
a  courage  of  the  most  dauntless  kind.  The  idea  of  personal  appre- 
hension seemed  never  to  cross  his  mind.  He  was  ambitions,  not  of 
mere  personal  distinction,  but  of  acliievements  useful  to  mankind  and 
promotive  of  .science." 

On  his  return  to  Pliiladelphia,  he  successfully  devoted  liimsclf  for  a 
time  to  his  profession,  both  as  a  teacher  and  practitioner  of  medicine, 
though  being  still  a  titular  surgeon  of  the  Navj',  he  had  put  his  name 
on  the  roll  its  "  waiting  for  orders."  Accordingly,  three  weeks  before 
the  declaration  of  war  against  Mexico,  in  May,  1846,  he  was  ordered  to 
the  coast  of  Africa,  in  the  frigate  United  States,  under  Commodore 
Reed.  When  at  Rio  .Janeiro  in  1843,  ho  had  received,  in  return  for 
professional  .services,  from  the  famous  Portuguese  merchant,  Da  Sousa, 
introductory  letters  to  his  commercial  representatives  on  the  African 
coast,  by  means  of  which  lie  now  visited  and  examined  the  slave-fao- 
tories;  and  while  the  frigate  was  in  liarbor,  he  also  joined  a  caravan 
going  to  the  interior,  and  was  presented  at  the  court  of  his  savage 
majesty  the  king  of  Dahomey,  where  he  became  convinced  that  even 
the  horrors  of  the  middle  passage  were  merciful  compared  with  those 
from  which  iti^  victims  had  been  rescued. 


« 


C-'r 


8 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KANS. 


From  thiB  comparatively  ingiorions  field  of  tlic  public  service,  Dr. 
Kane  was  transferred  hj  a  virulent  attack  of  tlie  coast-fever,  which, 
after  bringing  him  Ut  the  point  of  death,  required  iiis  iininediate  return 
home.  Ue  reached  I'hilailclphia  utterly  broken  in  health,  but  eager  to 
mingle  in  the  stirring  wrenc*  then  passing  in  Mexico,  from  which  he 
had  been  withheld  during  his  ten  months'  absence.  When  scarcely 
yet  convalescent,  he  hastened  to  Wasliington,  obtained  credentials  as 
bearer  of  dispatches  to  General  Scott,  then  in  the  Mexican  capital,  and 
after  stopping  in  Kentucky  to  procure  a  horse,  said  by  one  of  his  col- 
leagues to  have  been  "  the  finest  animal  ever  seen  in  Mexico,"  pursued 
his  journey  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  across  the  Gulf  to  Vera  Cruz. 
It  was  while  on  his  way  to  the  interior  that  an  attair  occurred,  the  well- 
attested  facts  of  which  bring  back  the  romance  of  chivalry  as  a  reality. 

Dr.  Kane,  having  been  unable  to  procure  an  American  escort,  had 
intrusted  himself  tf>  a  Mexican  spy-company,  under  Colonel  Doniingucs, 
and  was  approaching  Xopaluca,  when  they  encountered  a  body  of 
contra-guerrillas,  escorting  Generals  Gaona  and  Torrojon,  with  other 
Mexican  officers.  A  short  and  severe  contest  ensued,  resulting  in  the 
capture  of  most  of  the  Mexican  |>«rty.  During  the  fray,  the  doctor's 
charger  carried  him  \Mitween  young  Colonel  (iaona  and  his  orderly, 
who  both  fell  uj>on  him  at  the  same  moment.  Ueceiving  only  a  slight 
flesh  hurt  from  the  lance  of  the  latter,  he  parried  the  sabre-cut  of  the 
former  and  unhorsed  him  with  a  wound  in  the  chest.  Soon  afterwards 
cncs  came  from  young  Gaona  to  save  his  father,  the  aged  general, 
whom,  together  with  the  other  Mexican  prisoners,  the  renegade  Do- 
mingues  and  his  banditx  were  about  to  butcher  in  cold  blood.  Dr. 
Kane  instantly  charged  among  them  with  his  six-shooter,  and  suc- 
ceeded at  length  in  enforcing  humanity  to  the  vani]ui8licd,  though  only 
after  himself  receiving  a  lancc-ihmst  in  the  abdomen  and  a  blow  which 
cost  him  the  loss  of  his  horse.  But  still  another  act  of  mercy  remained 
to  be  performed.  As  the  old  General  sat  beside  his  son,  who  was 
bleeding  to  death  from  his  wound,  the  doctor,  with  no  better  surgical 
implements  than  a  table-fork  and  a  piece  of  pack-thread,  succeeded  in 
taking  up  and  tying  the  artery,  and  thus  saving  the  life  which  he  had 
endangered. 

The  gratitude  of  the  rescued  Mexicans  knew  no  bounds,  and  when  it 
was  found  that  their  deliverer  was  himself  suffering  from  his  wounds, 
ho  was  taken  by  General  Gaona  to  his  own  residence,  and  there  nursed 
for  weeks  by  the  ladies  of  the  family,  with  every  attention  that  wealth 
and  refinement  could  suggest.  A  ti.ssuc  of  circumstantial  as  well  as 
personal  evidence  has  ^»cd  the  chronicler  of  this  incident  the  risk  of 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


geeminn;  a  roinnncer.  The  published  letters  which  passed  between  the 
American  mid  Mexican  governors  of  I'uebla  in  n  ^',n\i  to  Dr.  Kane, 
intcrchuni^ed  his  praises;  and  on  his  return  to  riiihultlphia,  more  than 
seventy  of  tiie  most  distinguished  gentlemen  of  tlio  lity  united  in  pre- 
senting him  with  a  sword,  as  a  memorial  of  "an  incidental  exploit 
which  was  crowned  with  the  distinction  due  to  gallantry,  skill,  and 
success,  and  was  hallowed  in  the  flush  of  victory  by  the  noblest  hu- 
manity to  the  vanquished." 

After  the  Mexican  war,  in  January,  1849,  Dr.  Kiine  was  attached  to 
the  storesliij)  Supply,  Commander  Arthur  Sinclair,  bound  for  Lisbon, 
the  Mediterranean,  and  Rio  Janeiro.  The  diseases  which  he  had  suc- 
cessively contracted  in  China,  Egypt,  Africa,  and  Mexico,  had  made  sad 
inroads  upon  his  health,  and  the  voyage,  thoiigli  without  much  of  in- 
cident, at  least  served  to  recruit  his  strength.  He  was  next  assigned  to 
the  Coast  Survey,  and  had  settled  into  its  round  of  duty,  when  he  was 
suddenly  called  to  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

"On  the  liith  of  May,"  he  writes,  "  while  bathing  in  the  tepid  waters 
of  the  (iulf  of  Mexico,  I  received  one  of  those  courteous  little  epistles 
from  Washington  which  the  electric  telegraph  has  made  so  familiar  to 
naval  officers.  It  detached  rac  from  the  coast-survey,  and  ordered  me 
to  proceed  forthwith  to  New  York  for  duty  upon  the  Arctic  expedition." 
For  months  before,  the  civilized  world  had  resouiuied  with  the  cry  to 
the  rescue  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  the  Government,  moving  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  whole  country,  had  resolved  upon  sending  in  search  of 
the  lost  navigator  the  two  vessels,  the  "Advance"  and  "Rescue,"  under 
Commander  De  Uaven.  Dr.  Kane,  who  had  repeatedly  volunteered 
his  services,  was  made  senior  medical  officer  and  naturalist  of  the  ex- 
pedition, and  on  his  return,  published  its  history  in  the  form  of  a  "Per- 
sonal Narrative,"  collected  from  his  private  journals.  The  cruise  lasted 
during  sixteen  months,  but  resulted  in  little  more  than  the  discovery 
of  Sir  John  Franklin's  first  winter  quarters  and  the  graves  of  three  of 
his  men. 

In  proceeding  to  organize  the  second  United  States  Grinnell  Expe- 
dition under  his  own  command.  Dr.  Kane  had  before  him  an  object 
worthy  of  his  matured  powers  and  noblest  aims,  and  gave  himself  to 
the  task  with  the  zeal  of  a  votary.  But  what  discouragements,  what 
disappointments,  and  what  difficulties  entered  into  that  great  under- 
taking from  its  outset  to  its  close,  can  be  but  partially  seen  through 
the  veil  of  delicate  reserve  which  he  has  thrown  over  them.  Some- 
thing, however,  may  be  learned  in  regard  to  them  from  another  source, 
and  upon  authority  as  competent  as  it  is  disinterested  and  honorable. 


10 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


r   « 


Captain  Sherard  Osborne,  of  Ilcr  Majesty's  Navy,  in  a  paper  advoca- 
ting fintlier  pt)lar  exjiloration,  holds  the  following  langiiajrc  : — 

"It  is  only  fair  to  iJr.  Kane  to  say,  that  never  in  our  times  has  a 
iiaviitator  entered  tlic  ""lo  so  indifterently  prepared  for  a  I'cjlar  winter. 
With  only  seventeen  followers,  two  of  them  mutineers,  without  a  steam- 
power  for  liis  solitary  vessel,  without  proper  sledge-equiiJUicnt.  witliout 
any  preserved  fresh  meat,  and  a  great  insufficiency  of  piesorvud  vege- 
tables, and  with  only  coals  ouo\igh  to  servo  for  twelve  months'  fuel,  the 
only  marvel  to  mo  is,  "that  he  ever  returned  to  relate  his  siitferings. 
They  are  only  to  ho  e(|iialed  by  those  of  the  navigator  ".lames,"  in 
Hudson  ]>ay,  two  centuries  earlier.  God  forbid  that  1  should  bo 
thought  to  cast  one  reflection  upon  those  warm-hearted  Americans  wlio 
came  nobly  forward  and  said,  "  We  too  will  aid  in  Arctic  enterprise  ;" 
but  the  fact  is  tliat  enthusiasm  and  high  courage,  witliout  proper 
knowledge  and  ecjuipmeut,  on  such  service,  infallibly  lead  to  the  sufi'er- 
ing  which  Dr.  Kiinc's  followers  endured;  and  it  is  t/mt  which  best 
explains  how  it  was,  that  whilst  our  sailors,  far  beyond  the  l'^st|uiinaHX, 
waxed  fiit  and  fastidious,  Kane's  poor  followers  had  to  eat  the  raw  flesh 
of  animals  to  avert  the  ravages  of  scurvy,  brought  on  by  a  poisonous 
dietary  of  salt  meat.  This  nmch  to  meet  the  objections  of  tliose  who 
point  to  Dr.  Kane's  thrilling  narrative  with  a  view  to  frighten  us  from 
Arctic  exploration  ;  and  I  may  add,  that  I  know  well  tiiat  chivalrous 
man  never  penned  those  touching  episodes  to  frighten  men  from  high 
enterprise,  but  rather  to  caution  us  to  .avoid  his  mistakes.  And  to  show 
us  how  nobly  the  worst  evils  may  bo  borne  when  the  cause  is  a  good 
one."* 

The  narrative  of  that  expedition  is  before  the  reader  in  this  volume. 
Vv'^hen  tirst  given  to  the  world,  it  excited  an  intense  interi'st  and  drew 
forth  universal  eulogy.  All  classes  were  penetrated  anil  touched  by 
the  story  so  simply,  so  modestly,  so  eloquently  told.  Autograph  let- 
ters from  the  most  eminent  names  in  every  walk  of  life  were  written  in 
its  praise.  Medals  and  other  costly  testimonials  were  sent  by  the  Queen 
of  England,  by  ditl'creut  Legislatures  in  our  own  country,  and  by  scien- 
tific associations  throughout  tlie  world.  The  mere  casual  notices  of 
the  press,  as  collected  by  his  friend  Mr.  Childs,  the  publisher,  fill  sev- 
eral albums  of  folio  size. 

But  the  recipient  of  these  uonors  was  not  destined  liiMself  long  to 
enjoy  them.  To  the  seeds  of  former  diseases  never  fully  eradicated, 
had  been  added  that  terrible  scourge  of  Arctic  life,  tlie  scurvy,  together 

•  Paper  on  tlis  Exploration  of  the  North  Polar  Region,  roiid  bi'roro  tiie  Royal 
floographical  Society,  Jan.  23d,  1865,  by  Captain  Sherard  Osborne,  R.  N.,  C.  B. 


paper  ndvoca- 

ir  times  lioa  a 

II  I'Dlar  winter. 

itiioiit  Hsteain- 

)iiu'iit.  without 

ivesoi'ved  vege- 

>ntlis'  fuel,  the 

D  liis  siirt'eringB. 

or  "James,"  in 

t   1    uliould  be 

AiiuMiciins  wlio 

tie  enterprise  ;" 

witlioiit   proper 

11(1  tij  tlie  sufter- 

t/iiit  \viiic:h   best 

tiic  Estpiimaux, 

L':)t  the  raw  flesh 

\>y  a  poisonous 

18  of  tiiose  who 

ijfliteii  us  from 

1  tliat  eliivalrous 

I  men  from  high 

ves,  t\inl  to  show 

!  cause  is  a  good 

r  ill  this  volume. 
iitert':st  and  drew 
and  touched  by 
Aiitoiiraph  let- 
)  were  written  in 
ent  by  the  Queen 
ry,  and  by  scien- 
casual  notices  of 
jubli-shcr,  fill  aev- 

,  liiMseif  long  to 

fully  eradicated, 

!  scurvy,  together 

id  bc-foro  the  Royal 
me,  B.  N.,  C.  B. 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KANE. 


it 


with  the  pxlmusting  literary  Iftbom  incident  to  the  puMication  of  this 
narrative,  Kiitircly  lindcrestiinatiiig  those  ial)ors,  (of  wiiich  indeed  but 
few  eau  form  an  a(h.4uate  conception,)  lie  had  been  (juite  too  tiiought- 
leas  of  tiie  claiinH  of  a  body  ho  had  so  long  been  acciintonied  to  subject 
to  his  purpose,  ami  only  awoke  to  a  discovery  of  the  error  wlieu  it  was 
too  late.  With  tliis  melancholy  conviction,  he  announced  the  couipie- 
tion  of  t'".;  work  to  a  friend  in  the  modest  and  touching  sentence  : — 
"  The  book,  poor  as  it  is,  has  been  my  coffin," 

He  left  the  country  for  England  under  a  presentiment  that  he  should 
never  return.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life,  departure  was  shaded  with 
foreboding.  It  was  indeed  an  alarming  syini)tum  to  find  that  iron 
nerve  which  hitherto  had  sustained  him  uniler  shocks  ap|)arently  not 
less  severe,  thus  beginning  to  falter;  and  yet  even  tiu'U  the  great  pur- 
pose of  his  life  he  iiad  not  wholly  abandoned,  but,  in  spite  of  the  most 
serious  entreaties,  wa.s  already  projecting  another  Arctic  Expedition  of 
research  and  rescue*  Before,  however,  he  could  make  known  his  plans, 
or  even  receive  the  honors  awaiting  him,  successive  and  more  virulent 
attacks  of  disease  obliged  him,  under  me<lical  advice,  to  seek  the  last 
resorts  of  the  inviilid.  Attended  by  his  faithful  friend  Morton,  he 
sailed  for  Cuba,  where  lie  was  joined  by  his  mother  and  two  of  his 
brothers,  and  <levotetlly  nursed  during  a  lingering  and  painful  illness, 
until  his  death  on  the  10th  of  Fcbr-.ary,  1857. 

No  man  of  his  age  was  ever  more  proudly  and  tenderly  lamented. 
The  journey  with  his  remains  from  Havana  to  New  Orleans,  and  thenco 
through  the  Western  States  to  Philadelphia,  became  but  one  long 
funeral  triumph,  with  the  learned,  the  noble,  and  the  good  mingling  in 
its  train.  State  and  civic  authorities,  literary,  scientifi(\  and  religious 
bodies,  followed  his  bier  from  city  to  city  with  lavish  shows  of  grief, 
until  at  length  the  national  obsequies  were  conipleted  in  the  Hail  of 
Independence,  in  the  church  of  his  childhood,  and  at  the  grave  of  his 
kindred. 

Dr.  Kane,  so  lar  from  being  one  of  those  mere  personages  who  move 
in  a  halo  of  applause,  had  only  to  be  known  in  order  to  convert  the 
coldest  criticism  into  sympathy  with  the  popular  feeling.  Whatever 
faults  belonged  to  him — and  his  nature  was  too  rich  and  strong  to  be 
without  them — yet  the  man  himself  was  fully  worthy  of  his  mission, 
and  had  been  actually  endowed  with  gifts  and  traits  quite  as  remark- 

*  The  particular  project  to  which  ho  then  reverted  willi  special  interest,  was  one 
whieii  he  had  entertained  in  1852,  lookinp  to  a  combined  land  and  sen  expedition 
down  Mackenzie's  River,  and  through  Behring's  Straits.  See  Paper  on  Alaski, 
lately  read  by  his  brother  and  literary  executor,  General  T.  L.  Kane,  before  the 
American  Geograp)iical  Society. 


12 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KAKE. 


.»      ft 


I    i 


able  as  any  of  the  circumstances  which  conspired  to  make  him  an  object 
of  such  general  admiration. 

Whea  at  his  prime,  before  disease  had  begun  to  waste  his  frame,  his 
personal  appearance  was  extremely  youthful  and  handsome,  almost  to 
the  degree  of  a  feminine  delicacy  of  form  and  featare,  with  an  air  of 
elegance  and  fasiiion,  suggestive  at  first  sight  of  anything  but  hardy 
exploits  and  physical  endurance.  But  as  his  character  matured,  the 
lines  of  his  face  revealed  the  energy  and  purpose  within.  There  was  a 
certain  presence  which  diverted  attention  from  his  deficient  stature. 

Teinpenite  in  meat  and  drink,  he  had  none  of  the  Si  lall  vices  which 
deprave  the  body,  but  was  rather  ii:  danger  of  neglecting,  or  overtask- 
ing it,  by  the  reckless  energy  with  which  he  subjected  it  to  his  behests. 
The  stimulus  with  which  he  repaired  the  waste  of  mental  application 
was  natural  rather  than  artificial.  He  would  leave  the  maimscripts  of 
his  book,  to  seek  relaxation  in  a  midnight  rid  upon  his  favorite  stallion 
"  Gaona,"  or  in  a  rapid  walk  before  breakfast,  lie  was  a  splendid 
horseman  and  marksman,  in  the  excitements  of  the  chase  he  had  the 
keenest  relish,  and  yet  for  suflering  animal  creatures  often  showed  a 
tenderness  that  in  another  might  have  seemed  sentimental. 

Natural  scenery  and  objects  he  sui  veyed  with  the  eye  of  an  artist  as 
well  as  that  of  trained  scientific  observation.  Ilis  journals  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  were  filled  with  sketches,  some  of  them  finished  pictures, 
others  mere  pen-and-ink  outlines  with  verbal  notes.  "Could  they  be 
placed  before  the  public,"  says  the  artist  who  illustrated  this  work, 
"they  would  add  still  further,  if  that  were  possible,  to  his  reputation 
as  an  Arctic  explorer." 

His  aflections  for  home  and  kindred  were  absolute  passions.  In  his 
love  for  his  mother  especially,  he  was  a  child  to  the  last.  His  imi^in- 
ation  strove  to  brighten  even  the  Arctic  waste  with  dear  and  familiar 
associations.  The  ice-bound  harbor  in  which  he  was  imprisoned  was 
made  to  echo  with  names  oftenest  heard  at  home.  He  was  really 
prouder  to  call  a  new  land  or  river  after  one  of  his  own  kinsmen,  than 
to  christen  it  for  a  Washington  or  a  Tennyson ;  and  the  sledge  in 
which  he  sought  the  object  of  a  world-wide  fame  was  most  precious  in 
his  eyes  as  a  memorial  of  his  brother  "  Little  Willie." 

His  heart,  indeed,  was  as  warm  as  it  was  large  and  noble.  No  ele- 
vation and  vastness  in  his  schemes  of  philanthropy,  no  absorption  in 
their  pursuit,  and  no  reputation  gained  by  their  success,  ever  made  him 
insensible  to  the  claims  of  the  humblost  upon  its  regards.  Throughout 
life  he  had  mimerous  dependants  who  looked  to  hiir.  for  relief  and 
maintenance,  and  at  every  step  he  performed  acts  of  kindness  with  an 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


13 


uncalcuiating  generosity.  In  one  of  his  voyages  he  saved  the  life  of 
an  infant  whose  mother  was  too  ill  to  nurse  it,  by  himself  taking  entire 
charge  of  the  little  sufferer.  A  young  orphaned  niidsliipman,  with 
whom  he  read  the  Bible  and  Shakspeare  on  the  voyage  to  Brazil,  when 
found  to  be  dying  of  consumption,  was  taken  home  with  him  and  ten- 
derly nursed  until  his  death  as  one  of  the  family.  It  would  have  been 
strange  if  such  affluent  affection  had  not  been,  in  some  instances,  lav- 
ished upon  an  unworthy  object,  as  when  a  young  culprit  whom  he 
sought  to  reform  by  bringing  him  under  the  home  influences,  was  sud- 
denly missing  with  some  valuable  jewelry.  But  that  knightly  romance 
and  simplicity  aiiging  his  ardent  nature,  if  ever  quixotic  in  the  eyes  of 
the  prudent,  could  never  have  exposed  him  to  the  serious  misappre- 
h-^nsion  of  any  but  inferior  souls. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch,  as  the  eulogist  at  the  obsequies  of  Dr. 
Kane,  gave  an  expression  of  the  public  estimate  which  has  since  been 
only  confirmed  by  his  more  intimate  knowledge,  and  he  can  not  now 
do  better  than  here  to  reproduce  so  much  of  it  as  relates  to  his  moral 
traits  and  achievements.* 

"  As  a  votary  of  science,  he  will  indeed  receive  fitting  tributes. 
There  will  not  be  wanting  those  who  shall  do  justice  to  that  ardent 
thirst  for  truth,  which  in  him  amounted  to  one  of  the  controlling  pas- 
sions; to  that  intellect  so  severe  in  induction,  yet  sagacious  in  conjec- 
ture ;  and  u;  those  contributions,  so  various  and  valuable,  to  the  existing 
stock  of  human  knowledge.  But  his  memory  will  not  be  cherished 
alone  in  philosophic  minds.  Ilis  is  not  a  name  to  be  honored  only 
within  the  privileged  circles  of  the  learned.  There  is  for  him  another 
laurel,  greener  even  than  that  which  science  weave  for  her  most  gifted 
sons.  He  is  endeared  to  the  popular  heart  as  its  chosen  ideal  of  the 
finest  sentiment  that  adorns  our  earthly  nature. 

"Philanthropy,  considered  as  among  thi'.gs  which  arc  lovely  and  of 
good  report,  is  the  flower  of  human  virtue.  Of  all  the  passions  that 
have  their  root  in  the  soil  of  this  present  life,  there  is  none  which, 
when  elevated  into  a  conscious  duty,  is  so  disinterested  and  pure.  In 
the  domestic  afTections,  there  is  something  of  mere  blind  instinct;  in 
friendship,  there  is  the  limit  of  congeniality ;  in  patriotism,  there  are 
the  restrictions  of  local  attachment  and  national  antipathy;  but  in  that 
love  of  race  which  seeks  its  object  m  man  as  man,  of  whatever  kindred, 
creed,  or  clime,  earthly  morality  appears  divested  of  the  last  dross  of 
selfishness,  and  challenges  our  highest  admiraiion  and  praise.  * 

•  Sec  Report  of  tho  Joint  Oommittee  appointed  to  receive  the  remains  and  con- 
duct tiie  obsequies  of  tlie  late  HWaha  Kent  Kane,  in  Dr.  Elder's  Biography.  Funeral 
Diacourso  delivered  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church. 


14 


LIFE    OF    DR.     KANE. 


"Provulence,  who  governs  the  world  by  ideas,  selects  the  fit  occasions 
and  men  for  their  illustration.  In  j.n  »gc  when  philanthropic  senti- 
ments, through  the  extension  of  Christianity  and  civilization,  are  on 
the  increase,  a  fit  occasion  for  their  display  is  oflfered  ii:  the  perils  of  a 
bold  explorer,  for  whose  rescue  a  cry  of  anguished  aif.  .'ion  rings  in 
the  ears  of  the  nations  ;  and  the  man  found  ode  j-at/u  ^'  it  occasion 
is  he  whose  death  we  mou'  n. 

"If  there  was  every  thiiig  congruous  in  the  .  3ei;c  f  the  achieve- 
ment,— laid,  as  it  was,  in  those  distant  regions  where  the  lines  of  geog- 
raphy converge  beyond  all  the  local  distinctions  that  divide  and  sepa- 
rate man  from  his  fellow,  and  among  regions  of  cold  and  dirkncss,  and 
disease  and  famine,  that  would  task  to  their  utmost  the  powers  of 
human  endurance — not  less  suited  was  the  actor  who  was  to  enter  upon 
that  scene  and  enrich  the  world  with  such  a  lesson  of  heroic  benefi- 
cence. Himself  of  a  country  estranged  from  that  of  the  imperiled 
explorers,  the  simple  act  of  assuming  the  task  of  their  rescue  was  a 
beautiful  tribute  to  the  sentiment  of  national  amity;  while,  as  hia  war- 
rant for  undertaking  it>  he  seemed  wanting  in  no  single  qualificarion. 
To  a  scientific  education  and  the  experience  of  a  cosmopolite,  he  join.d 
an  assemblage  of  moral  qualities  so  rich  in  their  separate  excel!  :i  ' , 
and  so  rare  in  their  combination,  that  it  is  difficult  to  ofttc  tbo;; 
analysis 

"  Conspicuous  among  them  was  an  exalted,  yet  practical  beutmintQ. 
It  was  the  crowning  charm  of  his  chanvcter,  and  a  controUinc  »roti" ' 
in  his  perilous  jntcrprise.  Other  proinptings  indeed  th^re  were,  nei- 
ther suppressed,  nor  in  themselves  to  be  depreciated.  But  that  passion 
for  adventure,  that  love  of  science,  that  generous  ambition,  which  stim- 
ulated his  youthful  exploits,  appear  now  under  the  check  and  guidance 
of  a  still  nobler  impulse.  It  is  liis  sympathy  with  the  lost  and  suflfei- 
ing,  and  the  duteous  conviction  that  it  may  lie  in  liis  power  to  liberate 
them  from  their  icy  dungeon,  which  thrill  his  heart  and  ncv.^'  him  to 
his  hardy  task.  In  his  avowed  aim,  the  interests  of  geogri  iiy  ,rore  to 
be  subordinate  to  the  claims  of  humanity.  And  neither  tiie  •  f;-.  Hiies 
of  affection,  nor  the  imperiling  of  a  fame,  which  to  a  less  eanu  pirit 
might  have  seemed  too  prcciou;j  to  hazard,  could  swerve  him  from  the 
generous  purpose. 

"  And  yet  this  was  not  aher.c  iokiice  vh  "-'^  could  exhaust  itself  in  any 
mere  dazzling,  visionary  proj':at.  It  '.va;  hs  |iractical  as  it  was  compre- 
hensive. It  could  descend  to  all  tlic  niinuti.-!;  of  personal  kindness,  and 
gracefully  disguise  itself  even  in  tlie  most  menial  offices.  When  de- 
feated in  ita  great  object,  and  forced  to  resign  the  proud  hope  of  a 


LIFE    OF    DR.    KANE. 


15 


philanthropist,  it  turns  to  lavish  itself  on  bis  suffering  comrades,  whom 
he  leads  almost  to  forget  the  commander  in  the  friend.  With  unselfish 
assiduity  and  cheerful  patience  he  d:»otes  himself  as  a  nurse  and  coun- 
sellor to  relieve  their  wants,  and  buoy  them  up  under  the  most  appall- 
ing misfortniies  ;  and,  in  those  still  darker  seasons,  when  the  expedition 
is  threatened  with  disorganization,  conquers  them,  not  less  by  kindness 
than  by  address.  Does  a  party  withdraw  from  him  under  opposite 
counsels,  they  arc  assured,  in  the  event  of  their  return,  of  a  "  brother's 
welcome."  Are  tidings  brought  him  that  a  portion  of  the  little  band 
are  forced  to  halt,  he  knows  not  where  in  the  snowy  desert,  he  is  off 
through  the  midnight  cold  for  their  rescue,  and  finds  his  reward  in  the 
grateful  assurance,  "They  knew  that  he  would  conic."  In  sickness  he 
tends  them  like  a  brother,  and  at  death  drops  a  tear  of  manly  sensi- 
bility on  their  graves.  Even  the  wretched  savages,  who  might  be  sup- 
posed to  have  forfeited  the  claim,  share  in  his  kindly  attentions ;  and 
it  is  with  a  touch  of  true  human  feeling  that  he  parts  from  them  at  last, 
as  '  children  of  the  same  Creator.' 

"Then,  as  the  fitting  support  of  this  noble  quality,  there  was  also  an 
indomitable  oier^y.  It  was  the  iron  column,  around  whose  capital  that 
delicate  lily-work  was  woven.  His  was  not  a  benevolence  which  must 
waste  itself  in  mere  sentiment,  for  want  of  a  power  of  endurance  ade- 
quate to  support  it  through  hardship  and  peril.  In  that  slight  physical 
frame,  suggestive  only  of  refined  culture  and  intellectual  grace,  there 
dwelt  a  sturdy  force  of  will,  which  no  combinaticn  of  material  terrors 
seemed  to  appall,  and,  by  a  sort  of  magnetic  impulse,  subjected  all 
inferior  spirits  to  its  control.  It  was  the  calm  power  of  reason  and 
duty  asserting  theirsuperiority  over  mere  brute  courage,  and  compelling 
the  instinctive  homage  of  Herculean  strength  and  prowess. 

"  With  what  firm  yet  conscientious  resolve  does  he  quell  the  rising 
symptoms  of  rolK'Hion  which  threaten  to  add  the  terrors  of  mutiny  to 
those  of  famine  and  disease  I  And  all  through  that  stern  battle  with 
Nature  in  her  most  savage  haunts,  how  he  ever  seems  to  turn  his  mild 
front  toward  her  frowning  face,  if  in  piteous  appealing,  yet  not  less  in 
fixed  resignation  ! 

"  iJut  while  in  that  character,  benevolence  appeared  supported  by 
energy  and  patience,  so,  too,  was  it  equipped  with  a  most  marvelous 
tact.  He  broiiirht  to  his  beneficent  t.ask  not  merely  the  resources  of 
acquired  skill,  but  a  native  power  of  adapting  himself  to  emergencies, 
and  a  fertility  in  devising  expedients,  which  no  occasion  ever  seemed  to 
baffle.  Immiired  in  a  dreadful  seclusion,  where  the  combined  terrors 
of  Nature  forced  him  into  all  the  closer  contact  with  the  passions  of 


16 


LIFK    OF    DR.    KANE. 


man,  Le  not  only  rose,  by  his  energy,  superior  to  them  both,  but,  by 
his  ready  executive  talent,  converted  each  to  bis  ministry.  Even  the, 
wild  inmates  of  that  icy  world,  from  the  mere  stupid  wonder  with 
which  at  first  they  regarded  his  imported  marvels  of  civilization,  were,  at 
length,  forced  to  descend  to  a  genuine  respect  and  love,  as  they  saw  him 
compete  with  them  in  the  practice  of  their  own  rude,  stoical  virtues. 

"  To  such  more  sterling  qualities  were  joined  the  graces  of  an  afBucnt 
cheerfulness,  that  never  deserted  him  in  the  darkest  hours — a  delicate 
and  capricious  humor,  glancing  among  the  most  rugged  realities  like 
the  sunshine  upon  the  rocks — and,  above  all,  that  iuvaiiublo  stamp 
of.  true  greatness,  a  beautiful  modesty,  ever  sufficiently  content  with 
itself  to  be  above  the  necessity  of  prettrsion.  These  were  like  the 
ornaments  of  a  Grecian  building,  which,  though  they  may  not  enter 
into  the  effect  of  the  outline,  are  found  to  ipipart  to  it,  the  more 
nearly  it  is  surveyed,  all  the  grace  and  finish  of  the  most  exquisite 
sculpture. 

"  And  yet  strong  and  fair  as  were  the  proportions  of  that  character  in 
its  more  conspicuous  aspects,  we  should  still  have  been  disappointed 
did  we  not  find  albeit  hidden  deep  beneath  them,  a  firm  basis  of  reli- 
gious sentiment.  For  all  serious  and  thoughtful  minds  this  is  the  purert 
charm  of  those  graphic  volumes  in  which  he  has  recorded  the  story  of 
his  wonderful  escapes  and  deliverances.  There  is  every  where  shining 
through  its  pagt-s  a  chastened  spirit,  too  familiar  with  human  weakness 
to  overlook  a  l*rovidcnce  in  his  trials,  and  too  conscious  of  human  in- 
significance to  disdain  its  recognition.  Now,  in  his  lighter,  more  pen- 
sive moods,  we  see  '.t  rising,  on  the  wing  of  a  devout  fancy,  into  that 
region  where  piety  becomes  also  poetry : 

'  I  have  trodden  the  deck  and  the  floes,  when  the  life  of  earth  seemed 
suspended,  its  movements,  its  sounds,  its  colorings,  its  companionships; 
and  as  I  looked  on  the  radiant  hemisphere,  circling  above  me,  as  if 
rendering  worship  to  the  unseen  centre  of  light,  I  have  ejaculated  in 
humility  of  spirit,  '  Lord,  what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  hiraP 
And  then  I  have  thought  of  the  kindly  world  we  had  left,  with  its 
revolving  sunlight  and  shadow,  and  the  other  stars  that  gladden  it  in 
their  changes,  and  the  hearts  that  warmed  to  us  there,  till  I  lost  myself 
in  the  memories  of  those  who  are  not ;  and  they  bore  me  back  to  the 
stars  again.' 

"Then,  in  graver  emergencies,  it  appears  as  a  habitual  resource,  to 
which  he  has  come  in  conscious  dependence : 
*A  trust,  based  on  experience  as  well  as  oti  promises,  buoyed  me  np 


I 


1 


LIFE    OF    DB.    KANE. 


11 


at  the  worst  of  times.  Call  it  fatalism,  as  you  ignorantly  may,  there 
is  that  in  the  story  of  every  eventful  life  which  teaches  the  ineiticiency 
of  human  means,  and  the  present  control  of  a  Supreme  Agency.  See 
how  often  relief  has  come  at  the  moment  of  extremity,  in  forma 
strangely  unsought,  almost  at  the  time  unwelcome ;  see,  still  more,  how 
t>.e  back  has  been  strengthened  to  its  increasing  burdens,  and  the  heart 
cheered  by  some  conscious  influence  of  an  unseen  Power.' 

"And,  at  length,  we  find  it  settling  into  that  assurance  which  belongs 
to  an  experienced  faith  and  hope : — 

'  I  never  doubted  for  an  instant,  that  the  same  Providence  which 
liiid  guarded  us  through  the  long  darkness  of  winter  was  still  watching 
over  us  for  good,  and  that  it  was  yet  in  reserve  for  us — for  some  ;  I 
dared  not  liopc  for  all — to  bear  back  the  tidings  of  our  rescue  to  a 
Christian  land.' 

"  We  hear  no  profane  oath  vaunted  from  that  little  ice-bound  islet  of 
human  life,  where  man  has  been  thrown  so  helplessly  into  the  hands  of 
God ;  but  rather  in  its  stead,  murmured  amid  the  wild  uproar  of  the 
storm,  the  daily  prayer,  '  Accept  our  thanks  and  restore  us  lo  our 
homes.'  Let  us  believe  that  a  faith  which  supported  him  through  trials 
worse  than  death,  did  not  fail  him  when  death  itself  came. 

"In  the  near  approach  of  that  last  moment,  he  was  tranquil  and  com- 
posed. With  too  little  strength  cither  to  support  or  indicate  any  thing 
of  rapture,  he  was  yet  sufficiently  conscious  of  his  condition  to  per- 
form some  final  acts  befitting  the  solemn  emergency.  In  reference  to 
those  who  had  deeply  injured  him,  he  enjoined  cordial  forgiveness.  To 
each  of  the  watching  group  around  him,  liis  hand  is  given  in  the  fond 
pressure  of  a  final  parting;  and  then,  as  if  sensible  that  his  ties  to  earth 
are  loosening,  he  seeks  consolation  from  the  requested  reading  of  such 
Scripture  sentcncca  as  had  been  the  favorite  theme  of  his  thoughtful 
hours. 

"Now  he  hears  those  soothing  beatitudes  which  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  Man  of  Sorrows  in  successive  benediction.  Then  he  will  havo 
repeated  to  him  that  sweet,  sacred  pastoral — 

'  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd ;  I  shall  not  want.  lie  maketh  me 
to  lie  down  in  green  pastures :  he  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters. 
Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will 
fear  no  evil ;  for  Thou  art  with  me :  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  com- 
fort me.' 

"At  length  are  recited  the  consolatory  words  with  which  the  Saviour 
took  leave  of  his  weeping  disciples  : — 

'Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled :  ve  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in 
2 


18 


LIFE    OF    DB.    KANK. 


me.  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions ;  if  it  were  not  bo,  I 
would  have  told  you,     I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.' 

"  And  at  last,  in  the  midst  of  this  comforting  recital,  he  is  seen  to 
expire — so  gently  that  the  reading  still  proceeds  some  moments  after 
other  watchers  have  become  aware  that  ho  is  already  beyond  the  reach 
of  any  mortal  voice.  Thus,  in  charity  with  all  mankind,  and  with 
words  of  tlie  Redeemer  in  his  ear,  conveyed  by  tones  the  most  familiar 
and  beloved  on  earth,  his  spirit  passed  from  the  world  of  men." 

With  these  last  and  sublimest  lessons  of  his  life,  it  is  fitting  that 
this  sketch  should  close.  Let  every  American  youth,  who  reads  his 
story,  remember  that,  in  an  age  of  materialism  when  old  faiths  seem  to 
be  decaying,  he  illustrated,  as  no  man  ever  did  before,  the  spiritual  ele- 
ments of  our  nature,  and  the  entire  compatibility  of  deep  religious  con- 
viction, not  only  with  humane  efforts,  but  with  physical  researches  and 
with  earthly  toils,  successes,  and  honors.  He  will  not  indeed  have 
lived  in  vain  should  history  hereafter  rank  him  among  the  harbingers 
of  that  peaceful  era  when  charity  shall  become  heroic,  and  science  be 
reconciled  to  religion. 


■-'-7/m 


...^^ 


,  were  not  so,  I 

il,  he  is  seen  to 
moments  after 
yond  the  reach 
cind,  and  with 
e  most  familiar 
Id  of  men." 
b  is  fitting  that 
who  reads  liis 
I  faitlis  seem  to 
lie  spiritual  ele- 
p  religious  con- 
rescarchos  and 
)t  indeed  have 
tlje  harbiiigci's 
and  science  be 


^ 


3     I 


.! 


I 


r.m^rr»i\y  K  Tr^i»rt.rtr«lk 


:»   ■  h;' 


.nk:.::!     att  -R  ^! 


CHAPTER  I 


Circle,-H^  hfi'i  ■■■■-.\n  ,,-■  maps,  w  ft 

»und  the  eaitli,  jtHiuilei  with  the  wixjafor, 

■^.'■t  m  m«^  dlm;tkm  twenty-three  dt^grees 

V  tilji^lit  niiottt^  imm  the  North  Pole.     It 

the  Kortli  !'■■  •   '    r    n  I h«- North  Teniperute 

.iliin  thi'^  ■  •-  r.ifff  Arctic  (^:ean;  nearly 

•  i'H'nland :    •  •,•"•>.  Jsnvn   Zenil>lH    tuiJ 

.i,t.'"}s5  mrrthc:      .      »,. .  n-  of  Norw-ay,  ^jwedeii, 

i-. iisgia,  i>ll>tni!i.  r%MFi:Uii..  Mtid  Kntish  America ; 

ji tost  im kit <>v  '  AiA   north- wcst«*rly  .  of 

'-■.■■     Ki«>k*flM')m 
■.■■"  •  ■■■':^ 

■j     =::;*»  it 

...     ..i      ..   ever  torn 

■  "km  PoJi*  ^ith  an  m^' 

iiiouHund  li-agiies.     It  is  a 

•.i,  au<l  h*^  ior  ecnt'uries  ba.rtle'l  IJie  re- 

''  -i/tx  ii^utorK.  'u     ' 

'.  I'ctie  Circle,  h  Inr?  "bet wwu  latitud es  e^i  xt v- 

•■^i.Yiy  ,-^*»ven   d('irr^(  s  miiHt  nol    !>e  c.on!>i<lered 

'  ■•(iiidar)-  of  the  Arcti<'  R«>gi')us,  for  the  char- 

t<^iiiperHtiuv.-<  and  pUciiunu-na  of  far  higher 

•  »^vteiid  ^\'itl)  H/imo  oxctjptious  many  degrees 

.      10 


■ 


fj 


i 


y 


fi 


j:  ifcj:;  %,^, ;  "i;;: 


i?«#»w4  Vr  X  »**»'''f* 


;»  j.mt 


f  ■r»r:V»  -^f"?  *  "^ 


/    '2^    // 


cr^.h    f^:^^n^''<^^^^ 


-,,1«"» 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  ARCTIC  REGIONS. 

The  Arctic  Circle,  as  laid  down  on  our  maps,  is  a 
line  drawn  around  the  earth,  parallel  with  the  equator, 
and  distant  in  every  direction  twenty-three  degrees 
and  twenty-eight  minutes  from  the  North  Pole.  It 
separates  the  North  Frigid  from  the  North  Temperate 
Zone.  Within  this  circle  lie  the  Arctic  Ocean ;  nearly 
all  of  Greenland ;  Spitzbergen,  Nova  Zenibla  and 
other  islands ;  northerly  portions  of  Norway,  Sweden, 
Lapland,  Russia,  Siberia,  Alaska,  and  British  America ; 
and  the  almost  unknown  regions  north-westerly  of 
Greenland. 

The  Arctic  Ocean  is  enclosed  betAveen  the  n'  ''li'^rn 
limits  of  Eurojio,  Asia,  and  America.  Several  large 
rivers  from  the  three  continents  flow  northerly  into  it 
or  its  tributary  waters.  It  has  an  area  of  over  four 
million  square  miles,  and  girds  the  Pole  with  an  ice- 
locked  coast  of  a])out  three  thousand  leagues.  It  is  a 
mysterious  sea,  and  has  for  centuries  baffled  the  re- 
search of  navirjators. 

But  the  Arctic  Circle,  lying  between  latitudes  sixty- 
six  and  sixty-seven  degrees,  must  not  be  considered 
as  the  boundary  of  the  Arctic  Regions,  for  the  char- 
acteristic temperatiu'es  and  phenomena  of  far  higher 

latitudes  extend  Avith  some  exceptions  many  degrees 

19 


so 


THE  ARCTIC   HEOIONS. 


I   -I 


farther  to  the  s(»uth.  Iceland,  ^\•llic•h  may  well  he 
considered  an  Arctic  country,  lies  outside  this  circle  ; 
and  the  researches  of  the  lamented  Hall  during  liis 
first  expedition  were  made  considerably  hehnv  this 
line,  and  it  is  not  known  that  he  reached  much  higher 
latitudes  during  his  later  residence  on  the  northern 
shores  of  Hudson's  Bay. 

Witliin  these  hyperl »orean  regions  Natu'H^  is  niarhed 
"by  the  most  stupendous  features,  and  '  forms  she 
assumes  diifer  from  her  attitudes  in  .ilder  cli- 

mates almost  as  A\idely  as  if  they  belonged  to  another 
planet.  The  scenery  is  aAxd'ul  and  dreary,  yet  abound- 
ing in  striking,  sublime,  and  beautiful  objects.  The 
Hxm  forseveral  monthsof  the  year  is  totally  withdrawn, 
leaving  l>ehin(l  him  a  desert  Avaste  of  relentless  frost, 
and  the  darkness  of  a  prolonged  winter  which  broods 
over  the  frozen  realm,  save  when  the  magnificent 
Aurora  lights  up  the  gloom,  or  tlie  moon,  which  for 
days  continually  circles  aroimd  the  horizon,  reveals 
the  weird  beaiity  and  desolation  of  the  scene. 

Dr.  Kane,  in  the  most  fascinating  narrative  of  his 
second  e.\[)edition  descril)es  an  Ar<.'tic  moonlight  night 
as  folloAvs : — 

"  A  grander  scene  than  our  bay  by  moonlight  can 
hardly  be  conceived.  It  is  more  dream-like  and  super- 
natural than  a  coml)ination  of  earthly  features. 

"The  moon  is  nearly  full,  and  the  dawning  sun- 
light, mingling  with  hers,  invests  everything  with  an 
atmosphere  of  ash;,  gray.  It  clothes  the  gnarled  hills 
that  make  the  horizon  of  our  ])ay,  shadows  out  the 
terraces  in  dull  definition,  groAv^s  darker  and  colder  as 
it  sinks  into  the  fiords,  and  broods  sad  and  d)-eary 
upon  the  ridges  and  measureless  plains  of  ice  that 
make  up  the  rest  of  our  field  of  vicAV.     Rising  above 


TIIE  AnCTIO   KEOIONS. 


21 


nil  tliiH,  and  sluuliiig  down  into  it  in  strange  comLina- 
tion,  is  the  iiitiMise.  niooiiliglit,  glittering  on  every  crag 
and  s])iro,  tracing  the  outline  of  the  background  with 
contrasted  l)rightness,and  printing  its  fantastic  j)rofile3 
on  tlie  snow-lield.  It  is  a  landscape  sucli  as  Milton  or 
Dante  might  imagine, — inorganic,  desolate,  mysterious. 
I  have  come  down  from  deck  with  the  feelinij^s  of  n 
man  Avho  has  looked  upon  a  Avorld  unfinished  l)y  the 
hand  of  its  Creator." 

At  lengtli  the  sun  reapj)ears  aLove  the  horizon,  and 
as  a  comi)eiisation  for  his  long  absence  shines  uninter- 
ruj)tedly  for  tlie  balance  of  the  year,  although  his 
rays  are  fre(piently  obscured  by  mist  and  fog.  This 
continual  sunli^jht  strikes  the  traveler  as  the  stran2;est 
l)henomenon  of  the  Arctic  summer. 

As  the  sun  acquires  elevation,  his  power  increases. 
Tlie  j)rogress  of  tlie  frost  is  checked,  the  sno\v  grad- 
ually wastes  away,  the  ice  dissobes,  and  vast  frag- 
ments of  it  are  preci})itated  along  the  shores  with  the 
crash  of  thunder.  The  ocean  is  n(nv  uid)ound,  and 
its  icy  dome  disrupted  with  tremendous  fracture; 
enormous  fields  of  ice  thus  set  afloat  are  broken  up 
Ijy  the  violence  of  winds  and  cnri'ents,  or  drift  away 
to  the  south,  and  the  icebergs  take  u])  tlieii'  stately 
march. 

The  aniuial  formation  of  ice  within  the  Arctic  worhl 
is  a  l>eautiful  i)rovision  of  Natui'e  for  mitigating  the 
excessive  inequality  of  temperature.  Were  only  dry 
land  there  exposed  to  the  sun,  it  would  be  absolutely 
scorched  by  his  incessant  beams  in  summer,  and 
pinched  in  the  darkness  of  winter  l>y  the  most  intense 
and  penetrating  cold.  None  of  the  aninnd  or  vegeta- 
ble tribes  could  at  all  support  such  extremes.  But  in 
the  actual  arrangement,  the  surplus  heat  of  summer 


■W" 


KIMHHF 


■PHMMBMII 


22 


IHE   ARCTIC   REGIONS. 


I      ■<} 


ii\ 


I 


is  spent  in  melting  away  the  ice ;  and  its  deficiency  in 
winter  is  partly  supplied  by  the  influence  of  the  pro- 
gress of  congelation.  As  long  as  ice  remains  to  thaw 
or  water  to  freeze,  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere 
can  never  vaiy  beyond  certain  limits. 

For  what  is  known  of  the  Arctic  regions  the  world 
is  indebted,  principally,  to  the  ex])editions  which,  from 
time  to  time,  have  been  sent  out  by  different  nationn — 
some  to  search  for  new  routes  to  China  and  the  In- 
dies, some  to  look  for  the  North  Pole,  and  some,  in 
later  times,  for  the  relief  of  the  lost  navigator.  Sir 
John  Franklin. 

Tlie  thrilling  experiences  and  observation^  jf  many 
of  these  expeditions  have  ])een  written  out  by  mem- 
bers thereof,  and  the  penisal  of  their  narratives  'Anil 
give  the  reader  a  more  vivid  and  far  more  interest- 
ing conception  of  life  and  nature  in  the  fiigid  zone 
than  can  be  obtained  from  the  study  of  volumes  of 
didactic  description.  As  it  is  the  plan  of  this  book 
to  give  the  history  of  these  expediticms,  and  to  do  it 
to  some  extent  in  the  words  of  the  explorers  them- 
selves, full  information  as  to  tlie  characteristic  features, 
])lienomena,  inhal)itants,  and  animal  and  vegetable 
life  of  the  Arctic  regions  will  be  found  in  succeeding 
chapters. 


:'         ' 


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mosphere 

the  world 
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CHAPTER  II. 


EARLY  DISCOVERIES  AND  HISTORY. 

One  thousand  years  ago  the  mariners  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian Peninsula  were  the  boldest  of  navigators,  and 
the  most  successful  ones  of  their  age.  They  possessed 
neither  the  sextant  nor  the  compass  ;  they  had  neither 
charts  nor  chronometers  to  guide  t})em  ;  but  trusting 
solely  to  fortune  and  their  own  indomitable  courage, 
they  fearlessly  launched  forth  into  the  vast  ocean. 
Their  voyages,  distinguished  by  a  strange  mixture  of 
commerce,  piracy,  and  discoveiy,  added  no  little  to  the 
geographical  knowledge  of  their  day.  To  (piit  their 
bleak  regions  in  search  of  others  still  juore  bleak 
would  have  been  wholly  foreign  to  their  vicAVs ;  yet 
as  the  sea  wjis  covered  with  their  sails,  chance  and 
tempest  sometimes  di'ove  them  in  a  direction  other 
than  southerly. 

In  the  year  801,  Naddodr,  a  Norwegian  pirate,  was 
diifted  by  contrary  winds  far  to  the  north.  For  sev- 
eral days  no  land  Mas  visible;  then  suddenly  the 
snow-dad  mountains  of  Iceland  were  seen  to  rise  above 
the  mists  of  the  ocean.  The  viking  landed  on  the 
island,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Snowland,  but  dis- 
covered no  ti'aces  of  man.  Three  years  afterward, 
Gardar  and  Flocke,  two  Swedes,  visited  it;  and  hav- 
ing found  a  great  quantity  of  drift-ice  collected  on  the 


24 


ICi:LAND. 


I 
1, 

! 


li' 


nortli  side  of  it,  they  gave  it  the  name  of  IccLiiiJ, 
"wlii'.'h  it  still  l>ears.  In  S4'4,  Ingolf  and  Leif,  two 
famous  Norwegian  adventurers,  earrit'd  a  colony  to 
this  inhos])ital)le  region — the  latter  ha\  ing  enriched 
it  with  the  ])ooty  which  he  ravaged  from  England. 

Al)out  this  time  Harold,  the  Fair-haired,  had  he- 
come  the  despotic  master  of  all  Norway.  ]Muny  <>f 
his  former  equals  submitted  to  his  yoke;  hut  others, 
animated  by  a  love  of  liberty,  emigrated  to  Iceland. 
Such  were  the  attractions  which  the  island  at  that 
time  presented,  that  not  half  a  century  elapsed  before 
all  its  inhabitable  ])()i'tions  were  occupied  by  settlers 
from  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land. 

Icehmd  might  as  well  have  been  called  Fireland, 
for  all  of  its  forty  thousand  S(juare  miles  have  origin- 
ally been  upheaved  from  the  depths  of  the  vvaters 
•by  volcanic  action;  and  its  nmnerous  volcanoes  have 
many  times  brought  ruin  upon  Avhole  districts.  The 
most  frightful  visitation  occurred  in  1 78.'{,  and  its 
direful  effects  were  long  felt  throuL-hout  the  island, 
over  which,  for  a  whole  year,  hung  a  dull  cano])y  of 
cinder-laden  clouds. 

Pestilence,  famine,  and  severe  winters  have  also 
from  time  to  time  added  many  a  mournful  l)age  to 
Iceland's  long  annals  of  sorrow.  Once  she  had  over 
a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, — now  she  has  scarcely 
half  that  nund)er;  then  she  had  many  rich  and  j)ower- 
fid  families, — now  medioci'ity  t)r  poverty  is  the  universal 
lot ;  then  she  was  renowned  as  the  seat  of  learning  and 
the  cradle  of  literature, — now,  were  it  not  for  her 
remarkable  i)hysical  features,  no  traveler  would  ever 
think  of  landing  on  her  nigged  shores. 

In  winter,  "when  an  almost  perjwtual  night  covers 


Iier 
ner 


i 


GREENLAND. 


27 


tlie  wastes  of  tliis  fire-born  land,  and  the  waves  of  a 
stormy  ocean  thunder  against  its  shores,  imagination 
can  liardly  picture  a  more  desohite  scene ;  but  in  sum- 
mer the  rugged  nature  of  Icehind  invests  itself  with 
many  a  cliann.  Then  the  eye  rej)oses  with  delight 
on  green  valleys  and  crystal  lakes,  on  the  purple  hills 
or  snow-capped  moiuitains  rising  in  Alpine  grandeur 
above  the  distant  horizon,  and  the  stranger  might 
almost  be  tempted  to  exclaim  Avith  her  patriotic  chil- 
dren, "  Iceland  is  the  fairest  land  under  the  sun," 

The  colonization  of  Iceland  proved  the  stepping- 
stone  to  further  discoveries,  although  over  a  century 
elapsed  before  any  progress  was  made  in  a  westerly 
direction  ;  then,  070,  an  Icelander  named  Gunnbjorn, 
first  saw  the  high  mountain  coast  of  Greenland. 

Soon  afterAvards,  a  XorAvegian  named  TliorAvald, 
with  his  son,  the  famous  Ei'ic  the  Red,  living  their 
country  on  account  of  homicide,  took  refuge  in  Iceland. 
Here  Thorwald  died,  and  Eric,  his  hands  again  im1)ued 
with  blood,  Avas  obliged,  in  082,  to  once  more  take 
refuge  on  the  high  seas.  lie  sailed  Avestward  in  (piest 
of  the  land  discovered  by  Gunnbjorn,  ai"l  ere  long 
reached  its  shores.  Having  entei-ed  a  spacious  creek, 
lie  spent  the  winter  on  a  pleasant  adjacent  island.  lu 
the  following  season,  pursuing  his  discoveries,  he  ex- 
plored the  continent,  and  Avas  delighted  Avitli  tlie 
freshness  and  verdure  of  its  coast. 

Eric  afterwards  returned  to  Iceland,  and  by  his  in- 
viling  description  of  the  neAV  country,  Avhich  he  named 
Greenland,  induced  great  nund)ers  to  sail  Avitli  him 
and  settle  there.  They  started  in  OSo,  Avith  twenty- 
five  vessels,  but  on  account  of  foul  Aveather  only  four- 
teen of  tiu'in  reached  the  destined  harbor.  Other 
emigrants  soon  followed,  autl  in  a  feAV  years  all  of 


i 


28 


TUE   NORTHMEN    IN    AMERICA. 


n 


! 


Southern    Greenland    was   occupied    by   flourishing 
colonies. 

An  adventurous  young  Icelander  named  Biarni, 
who  was  in  Norway  when  Eric's  colonists  sailed  for 
Greenland,  on  returning  home  and  finding  that  his 
father  had  gone  Avith  them,  vowed  that  he  ^vould 
spend  the  winter  with  his  father,  as  he  had  always 
done,  and  set  forth  to  find  the  little  settlement  on  the 
unknoAvn  shores  of  Greenland. 

A  northerly  gale  sprung  up  and  for  many  days  he 
was  driven  to  the  southward  of  his  course.  At  last 
he  fell  in  with  a  coast  in  the  west,  wooded  and  some- 
what hilly.  No  landing  was  made,  and  tlie  anxious 
mariners,  sailing  for  t^vo  days  to  the  nortliAVurd,  found 
anotlier  land,  low  and  level,  and  ovei'grown  with 
woods.  Not  recoo-nizinjTc  the  mountains  nor  meetins: 
with  icebergs,  Biarni  sailed  northerly,  and  in  three 
days  came  upon  a  great  island  with  high  mountains, 
much  ice,  and  desolate  shores.  lie  was  then  driven 
before  a  violent  soutli-Avest  wind  for  four  days,  wlien 
by  singular  good  fortune  he  reached  tlie  Greenland 
settlement  which  he  was  seeking. 

From  tlie  internal  evidence  aiforded  by  the  dates 
and  the  causes,  as  well  as  from  the  corroboration  of 
subsequent  expeditions,  it  "would  appear  that  these 
mariners  brought  up  on  the  coast  of  New  England. 
The  first  land  seen,  judging  from  the  descrii)tions, 
was  probably  Nantucket  or  Cajie  Cod.  Two  days' 
sailing  would  easily  l)ring  them  to  tlie  level  and  forest- 
covered  shores  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  three  more  to  the 
bleak  and  precipitous  coast  of  Newfoundland.  From 
that  island  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Greenland, 
the  distance  is  but  six  hundred  miles,  Avhich  a  vessel, 
running  before  a  favorable  gale,  might  readily  accom- 
plish Avithin  the  given  time. 


THE   NORTIDIEN    IN    AMERICA. 


29 


111  the  year  999,  Leif,  a  son  of  Eric,  liuving  visited 
the  coast  of  Norway,  was  iiuluced,  by  the  zealous  and 
earnest  solicitation  of  King  Olaf  Trygg\ason,  to  era- 
brace  the  Christian  faith ;  and,  carrying  with  him  some 
monks,  he  found,  through  their  ministry,  no  great 
difficulty  in  persuading  his  father  and  the  rest  of  the 
settlers  to  forsake  the  rites  of  Paganism.  Having 
heard  Biarni  much  blamed  at  Norway  for  neglecting 
to  prosecute  his  discoveries,  Leif  Avas  stimulated  to 
undertake  a  voyage  in  quest  of  new  lands.  He  bought 
the  vessel  of  Biivrni,  and  with  thirty-five  men,  some 
of  M'liom  had  been  on  the  fonner  voyage,  set  sail  in 
the  year  1000. 

Probably  the  first  lands  sighted  by  him  were  the 
same  as  those  which  Biarni  had  already  discovered, 
but  they  Avere  now  taken  in  an  inverse  order.  Hav- 
ing steered  to  the  westward  of  an  island  (jirobably 
Nantucket)  the  voyagers  "passed  up  a  river  and 
thence  into  a  lake."  Tliis  channel,  it  would  seem,  was 
the  Seaconnet  Biver,  the  eastern  outlet  of  Nari-agan- 
sett  Bay,  which  L  ads  to  the  beautiful  lake-like  expanse 
now  known  as  Mount  Hope  Bay.  From  the  great 
number  of  Avild  grapes  found  here  the  Avhole  country 
received  the  name  of  Vinland. 

Numerous  other  voyages,  according  to  Icelandic 
manuscripts,  Avere  made  from  Greenland  and  Iceland 
to  the  shores  of  Vinland.  To-day  inscriptions  are 
found  Avhich  Avere  periiajis  the  handiAVork  of  these 
adventurers ;  but  the  discoA^eries  they  made  appear  to 
have  been  forgotten  like  the  Greenland  colonists,  and 
it  has  not  been  uncommon  for  modern  students  to 
doubt  the  Avhole  stoiy  of  the  discovery  of  America  by 
the  Northmen.  Many  hoAvever  believe  in  it,  and 
some  propose  to  celebrate  our  centennial  anniversary 


80 


TIIK   LOST    COLONISTS. 


T)y  ereotinj^  in  Madison,  Wis.,  a  monument  to  the 
Viking  who  first  discovered  Aniericji. 

In  1477  Coluni])us  visited  Iceland,  and  voyaged  a 
liundred  leagues  lieyond  it,  i)r()l»al)ly  to  the  westward, 
and,  it  may  be,  came  near  reviving  the  ancient  discov- 
eries of  the  Noi-thmen,  and  tracking  the  steps  of  BL 
arni,  Leif,  and  Thorfhm  to  the  long  lost  Vinland. 

The  original  settlement  of  Greeidand  l)eijnn  ahout 
the  southern  jjromontory,  near  Cape  Farewell,  and 
stretched  along  the  coai;;t  in  a  north-westerly  direction. 
Farther  north,  and  prol)aldy  extending  as  high  as  the 
latitude  of  sixty-six  degrees,  was  a  second  settlenK^nt. 
Tlie  f(»rmer  is  said  to  have  included,  at  its  most  Hour- 
ishing  ])eri()d,  twelve  parishes  and  two  convents;  the 
latter  contained  four  parishes.  Between  the  two  dis-. 
ti'icts  lay  an  uninhabitable  region  of  seventy  miles 
The  whole  population  Avas  about  six  thousand.  For 
some  centuries  a  commercial  intercourse  avjus  nijiin- 
tained  Avith  Nonvay  ;  but  the  trade  was  subsequently 
seized  as  an  exclusive  privilege  of  the  Danish  court. 

The  colonists  of  Greenland  led  a  life  of  hardship 
and  severe  privations.  They  dAvelt  in  hovels  sur- 
rounded by  mountains  of  ])erpetual  ice;  they  neA^er 
tasted  bread,  but  subsisted  on  the  fish  AAdiich  they 
caught,  joined  to  a  little  milk  obtained  from  their 
starving  coavs;  and,  Avith  seal-skins  and  the  tusks  of 
the  Avalrus,  they  purchased  from  the  traders  who  occa- 
sionally A^isited  them,  the  Avood  required  for  fuel  and 
the  construction  of  their  huts. 

Al)out  the  year  l.'»7(),  the  natiA'cs  of  the  country,  or 
Esquimaux,  Avhom  the  NorAvegian  settlers  had  in  con- 
tempt called  Dwarfs,  attacked  the  colonies.  The 
scanty  population  Avas  enfeebled  by  rej)eated  alarms ; 
and  that  dreadful  pestilence,  termed  the  Black  Deathj 


TIIKIR    SUIUHISED     PATJ2. 


31 


/ 


•wliicli  raged  over  Europe  from  the  year  1402  to  1 40 1, 
at  last  extended  its  ravai^^es  to  Greeidaiul,  and  ncaily 
coiii])leted  tlie  destruetion. 

Ill  1418  a  hostile  fleet,  suspected  to  l>e  English,  laid 
waste  tlie  country.  Political  tr<)u})les  and  wars  in 
Scandinavia  at  a  later  date,  caused  Greenland  to  be 
neglected,  and  finally  forgotten ;  and  it  is  l)elieved 
that  its  last  colonists  either  retreated  to  Iceland  or 
were  destroyed  by  the  Es(|uiniaux  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixteenth  century. 

In  loS^  and  1G05,  expeditions  were  sent  out  from 
Denmark  to  see  if  any  inhabitants  of  Norse  origin 
still  dwelt  in  Greenland;  but  none  could  be  found, 
although  traces  of  the  ancient  settlement  were  seen 
on  the  western  coast. 

An  idea  formerly  pi-evailed  that  a  colony  had  also 
been  planted  (m  the  east  side  of  Greenland,  which 
had  been  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  l)y  vast 
bari'iers  of  ice  accumulating  on  the  shore.  The 
problem  was,  wliether  the  ill-fated  people  had  survived 
the  catastrophe,  or  been  entombed  in  snow  and  ice, 
as  the  unhappy  citizens  of  Pompeii  Avere  involved  in 
a  shower  of  volcanic  ashes.  Ships  were  sent  out  at 
different  times  by  Denmark  for  their  relief,  Imt  it  is 
now  evident  that  no  such  settlement  ever  existed. 
The  coast  of  Eastern  Greenland  is  everywhere  bold 
and  rocky,  and  the  interior  of  the  country  consists  of 
clusters  of  mountains  covered  with  eternal  snoAvs. 

In  1721,  Kans  Egede,  a  XorAvegian  pastor,  Avho  had 
long  felt  the  deepest  concern  for  the  descendants  of 
the  old  Christian  commimities  of  Greenland,  in  Avhose 
total  desti'uction  he  could  not  believe,  sailed  from 
Bergen  Avith  his  Avife,  four  children,  and  forty  colonists, 
having  resolved  to  ))ecome  the  apostle  of  regenera- 


32 


THE  APOSTUa   OF   GREENLAND. 


ted  Greenland.  Tliey  landed  July  3d,  and  soon  erect- 
ed a  wooden  chapel  at  the  location  of  the  present  set- 
tlement of  Godthad. 

Although  Egtide  met  with  severe  trials,  and  was 
deserted  by  nearly  all  the  settlers,  he  ])ei-severed  in 
sustaining  his  foothold  in  the  countiy  ;  and  in  1733 
the  king  of  Denmark  bestowed  on  the  mission  an  animal 
grant  of  two  thousand  dollars,  and  sent  three  Moravian 
Lrothers  to  assist  him. 

Es>:ede  returned  to  Norway  in  173."):  dm"in<r  his  long 
stay  in  Greenland  he  could  find  nothing  in  the  ])hysi. 
ognoiny  or  language  of  the  Es<piimaux  whic-h  pointed 
to  an  European  origin. 

Dr.  Kane  visited  this  locality  in  1853,  and  speaks 
of  it  as  follows : — 

*'  While  Ave  were  heating  out  of  the  liord  of  Fisker- 
naes,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting  Lichtenfels,  the 
ancient  seat  t»f  the  Greenland  congregations,  and  one 
of  the  three  Moravian  settlements.  I  had  read  much 
of  the  liistor^  of  its  founders :  and  it  was  with  feelings 
almost  of  devotion,  that  I  drew  near  the  scene  their 
labors  had  consecrated. 

"As  we  rowed  into  the  shadow  of  its  rock-embayed 
cove,  every  thing  was  so  desolate  and  still,  that  we  iiiiglit 
have  fancied  ourselves  outside  the  world  of  life ,  even 
the  dogs — those  (pierulous,  never-sleeping  sentinels  of 
the  rest  of  the  coast — gave  no  signal  of  our  a})proach. 
Presently,  a  sudden  turn  around  a  projecting  clilf 
brought  into  view  a  quaint  ohl  ttilesian  nuuision,  l)ris- 
tlinir  with  irreauh 


I'ly-disp 


•.Y' 


hanging   ro<>f    studded    Avith    dormer   Avindows   and 
croA\-ned  Avith  an  antique  belfry. 

"  We  Avere  met,  as  we  landed,  T)y  a  couple  of  gi-ave 
ancient  men  in  sable  jaickets  and  close  velvet  skull- 


:  \t 


il 


FiSKKRSAKS  — 11  I.MK    OF    IIAN8   CHRISTIAN. 


.MoitAviAN  ^^;rn.K.M^..^l'  at  lk.htk.nkkls. 


I 


^ 


I 


THE   MOEAVIAN  MISSIONS. 


35 


caps,  such  as  Vandyke  or  Kembrandt  himself  might 
have  painted,  wh(j  gave  us  a  quiet  but  kindly  welcome. 
All  inside  of  the  mansion-house — tlie  furnituie,  the 
matron  even  the  children — had  the  same  time-sobered 
look.  The  sanded  floor  was  dried  by  one  of  those  huge 
white-tiled  stoves,  which  have  been  known  for  gene- 
rations in  the  north  of  Europe ;  and  the  stift'-l^acked 
chairs  Avere  evidently  coeval  v>ath  the  first  days  of  the 
settlement.  The  heavy-built  table  in  the  middle  of 
the  room  was  soon  covered  with  its  simple  offerings  of 
hos])itality ;  and  we  ""jat  around  to  talk  of  the  lands  we 
had  come  from  and  the  changing  wonders  of  the  times. 

"We  learned  chat  the  liouse  dated  back  as  far  as 
the  days  of  Matihew  Stach ;  built,  no  doubt,  with  the 
beams  that  floated  so  providentially  to  the  sliore  some 
twenty-five  years  after  the  first  landing  of  Egede ;  and 
that  it  had  been  the  home  of  the  brethren  who  now 
greeted  us,  one  for  twenty-nine  and  the  other  twenty- 
seven  years.  The  •'  Congregation  Hall "  was  within 
the  building,  cheerless  now  with  its  empty  benches ;  a 
couple  of  French  horns,  all  that  I  could  a.s^^ciate  with 
the  gladsome  piety  of  the  Moravians,  hung  on  each  side 
the  altar.  Two  dwelling-roc  mis,  thi'ee  chaml)ers,  and 
a  kitchen,  all  under  the  same  roof,  made  up  the  one 
structure  of  Lichtenfels. 

"  Its  kind-lu-arted  inmates  were  not  without  intelli- 
gence and  education.  In  spite  of  the  formal  cut  of 
their  dress,  and  something  of  the  stiffness  that  belongs 
to  a  proti'actcd  solitary  life,  it  was  impossil)le  not  to 
recognise,  in  tlieir  demeanor  and  course  of  thought, 
the  li})eral  spirit  thnt  has  always  characterized  their 
cliuivh.  Two  of  their  "  children,"  they  sai<i,  had  "  gone 
to  God  "last  year  with  the  scurvy;  yet  they  hesitated 
at  receiving  n.  scanty  supply  of  potatoes  as  a  present 
from  our  store." 


lit 


1^1 


m 


\m 


86 


ESQUIJIAUX    OF   XOHTII    GREEXLAXD. 


\m 


■  I 


Tlie  Danisli  colonies  now  in  Greenland  are  scattered 
along  some  eight  liimdred  miles  of  the  western  coast, 
and  are  more  lioiu'if^hing  than  the  ancient  settlements. 
Tlxe  Eviro])ean  population  is  only  about  one  hundred 
and  lift}' — all  in  the  service  of  the  Danish  company 
excepting  the  missionaries — ^^Lile  the  natise  Esc^ui- 
maux  of  the  district,  among  whom  they  live  on  good 
terms,  are  estimated  at  ahout  nine  thousand. 

Farther  north,  and  cut  off  from  civilization  and  their 
more  favored  brothers  of  the  Danisli  neighborhoods 
by  impassable  glaciers,  are  other  Esquimaux — nomads, 
^^•ho  range  over  a  narrow  belt  extending  along  the 
coast  for  six  hundred  miles.  They  Avere  the  neighbors 
of  Dr.  Kane  during  liis  t^vo  winters'  imprisonment  in 
Kensselaer  Harbor.  In  his  "Arctic  Exi)lorations,"  Dr. 
Xane  pays  an  affectijig  tribute  to  their  virtues  and 
('raws  gloomy  auguries  of  their  future  : — 

"  It  is  Avith  a  feeling  of  melancholy  that  I  i-ecall  these 
familiar  names.  They  illustrate  the  trials  and  modes 
of  life  of  a  simple-minded  jjeojde,  for  whom  it  seems  to 
l>e  decreeil^tliat  the  year  must  Acry  soon  cease  to  renew 
its  changes.  It  pains  me  when  I  think  of  their  ap- 
proaching destiny, — in  the  region  of  night  and  winter, 
where  the  earth  fields  no  fruit  and  the  waters  are 
locked, —  Avithout  the  resorts  of  skill  or  even  the  rude 
materials  of  art,  and  ■\valled  in  from  the  world  by 
barriers  of  ice  Avithout  an  outlet. 

"  If  you  i)oint  to  the  east,  inland,  Avhere  the  herds  of 
reindeer  run  over  the  l^arren  hills  unmolested, — for 
they  have  no  means  of  ca])turing  them, — they  will  cry 
"  KSermik,"  "  glacier ;"  and,  question  them  as  you  may 
about  tin;  range  of  their  nation  to  the  north  and  south, 
the  answer  is  still  the  same,  with  a  shake  of  the  head, 
"Sermik,  scrmik-soak,"  "the  great  ice-wall;"  there  is 
no  more  bevond. 


THE  OABO'rs   AND   THEIll   VOYAGES. 


37 


"  They  have  no  "  kresuk,"  no  wood.  The  drift-tim- 
her  whicli  blesses  their  more  southern  brethren  never 
reaches  them.  The  bow  and  arrow  are  therefore  un- 
known ;  and  the  kayak,  the  national  implement  of  the 
Greenlander,  which,  like  the  palm-tree  to  the  natives 
of  the  tropics,  ministers  to  almost  every  want,  exists 
among  them  only  as  a  legendary  word." 

Though  a  long  intercourse  with  Europeans  has 
somewhat  modified  the  character  of  the  Southern 
Greenlanders,  and  acquainted  them  with  some  of  the 
luxuries  of  civilization,  they  still  retain  to  a  great  de- 
gi'ee  their  former  customs  and  modes  of  life.  This  is 
prol)ably  owing  to  the  sparse  population,  and  their 
\agrant  life.  Depending  wholly  upon  the  products 
of  the  chase  for  their  food,  they  are  most  accom- 
plished hunters ;  and  the  sea  is  the  principal  source  of 

England  narrowly  missed  snanug  m  m,.  ^^^.^.,. 
awarded  to  Columbus  for  his  great  achievement. 
After  vainly  soliciting  Spain  and  Portugal  for  aid, 
that  navigator  sent  his  brotlier  to  Ileniy  VII.,  with 
propositions  which  were  at  once  accepted ;  but  1)ef(>re 
the  return  of  his  messenger,  Columbus,  under  tlie 
auspices  of  Isabelhi,  had  started  on  his  voyage.  The 
news  of  his  success  excited  much  interest  in  England  ; 
and  the  king  granted  to  John  Cabot  and  his  xliree 
sons,  a  patent  "to  sail  to  all  paiis,  countries,  and  seas," 
at  their  own  exjiense,  as  exjdorei's.  Cabot  was  an 
Italian,  once  a  "  Merchant  of  Venice,"  :hen  living 
in  IJristol,  England,  where  his  son  Sebasti-ui  was  1)orn 
about  1477.  A  subsecpient  residence  in  Venice  had 
given  the  son  a  taste  for  maritime  enterprises,  whicli 
was  increased  by  his  learning  the  trade  of  making 
maps. 


sa 


THE    LABRADOR    COLONY. 


The  explorers,  in  a  ship  named  the  "  IMatthew," 
fitted  out  probably  at  the  expense  of  the  Cabots,  sailed 
from  Bristol  in  May,  1497.  Sebastian,  though  only 
nineteen  years  of  age,  was  entrusted  with  the  com- 
mand, but  was  accompanied  by  his  father. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  they  beheld  portions  of  the 
coast  of  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  stretched  out 
before  them.  This  discovery  of  a  continent  (four^^een 
months  before  Columbus  discovered  the  main  land) 
caused  the  explorers  little  exultation,  although  the 
British  claim  to  the  tliii-teen  colonies  was  primaiily 
based  thereon.  The  object  of  the  voyage  was  to  dis- 
cover a  passage  to  India ;  and  to  be  obstructed  by  land 
displeased  the  mariners.  Entering  one  of  the  chan- 
nels leading  into  Hudson's  Bay,  they  continued  on 
for  several  days,  when  the  crew  became  despondent 
and  insisted  on  returning.  Cabot  yielded  to  their 
clamors  and  sailed  for  England. 

In  the  Spring  of  1498,  Sebastian,  with  three  hun- 
dred men,  again  set  sail  for  the  region  he  had  discov- 
ered. These  unfortunate  people  he  landed  on  the 
bleak  and  inhospitable  coast  of  Labrador,  that  they 
might  form  a  settlement  there,  and  then  with  the 
squadron  renewed  his  search  for  the  North-west  pas- 
sage. On  his  return  to  the  station,  he  found  that  the 
settlers  had  suffered  intensely  from  cold  and  exposure. 
A  number  had  already  perished,  and  the  balance  Avere 
carried  back  to  England. 

Cabot  made  a  third  voyage  to  the  North-west  in 
1517,  and  it  is  believed  that  lie  discovered  tlie  two 
Htraits  which  now  bear  the  names  of  Davis  and  Ilud- 
8on. 

In  the  year  1500,  Gasper  Cortereal,  of  Portugal, 
sailed  in  search  of  a  North- west  passage.     He  reached 


POBTUGUESB  EXPEDITIONS. 


8d 


Labrador,  and  sailed  a  long  distance  along  its  coast,' 
and  then  Avith  a  number  of  natives  on  board  returned 
home.  The  next  year  he  guided  two  ships  to  the 
noi'thern  point  of  his  fonner  voyage,  Avhere  he  entered 
a  strait ;  here  the  vessels  were  separated  by  a  tem- 
pest. One  of  them  succeeded  in  extricating  itself,  and  • 
searched  for  some  time  in  vain  for  its  lost  consort ; 
but  that  which  had  on  board  the  gallant  leader  of  the 
expediti(Mi  returned  no  more,  and  no  trace  could  ever 
be  obtained  of  its  fate. 

The  next  year,  Miguel  Cortereal  sailed  with  three 
ships  in  search  of  his  brother.  Two  of  the  vessels  re- 
turned in  safety,  but  Miguel  and  his  crew  were  never 
heard  from.  A  third  brother  wished  to  search  for  his 
lost  kindred,  but  the  king  would  not  allow  him  to  do 
so. 

French  expeditions,  under  Verazzani  (1523)  and 
Cartier  (If) 2 4)  were  equally  unsuccessful  in  their 
search  for  the  north-west  passage. 


m 


H 


CHAPTER  III. 

ENGLISH  EXPEDITIONS  TO  THE  NORTII- 

E.VST. 

(WILLOUGHBY — CHAXCEI/^R BrRROUOIIS ETC.) 

In  1553,  after  a  long  j*luml>er,  the  spirit  of  discov- 
ery in  England  was  again  aroused,  and  a  voyage  was 
planned  A\'ith  a  view  to  reach  In'  way  of  the  noi-th 
and  north-east,  the  celebrated  regions  of  India  and 
Cathay, 

Sebastian  Cabot  was  prominent  in  forwarding  this 
enterprise,  and  though  too  old  to  lead  the  expedition 
he  drew  up  the  instructions  under  which  it  sailed. 
In  it  the  mariners  were  .vamed  not  to  be  too  much 
alarmed  when  they  saw  the  natives  dressed  in  lions' 
and  bears'  skins,  with  long  bows  and  arrows,  as  this 
formidable  ai>j)earance  wa«  often  assumed  merely  to 
inspire  teiTor.  He  told  them,  that  there  were  persons 
anned  with  bows,  who  swam  naked,  in  various  seas, 
havens,  and  rivers,  "desirous  of  the  bodies  of  men, 
which  they  covet  for  meat,"  and  against  whom  diligent 
watch  must  be  kept  night  and  day.  He  exhorted 
them  to  use  the  utmc  st  circumspection  in  their  deal- 
ings Avith  these  strangers,  and  if  invited  to  dine  Avith 
any  loitl  or  ruler,  to  go  well  armed,  and  in  a  ])osture 
of  defence. 

The  command  of  the  expeditiim  was  given  to  Sir 

40 


XZPSDinON  UNDEQ  SIB  HUOH  WILLOUOHBT.         41 


Hugh  Willoughby,  and  three  vessels  having  been 
fitted  out  with  great  care,  sailed  from  England  in  the 
month  of  May.  The  court  and  a  great  multitude  of 
people  witnessed  their  departure,  and  the  occasion  was 
one  of  great  interest  and  excitement.  Willoughby 
was  furnished  by  King  Edward,  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction, addressed  to  all  "kings,  piinces,  rulei-s,  judges, 
and  governors  of  the  earth,"  in  Avhich  free  passage  and 
other  favors  were  asked  for  the  explorers;  and  if 
granted,  he  concluded, — "  We  promise,  by  the  God  of 
all  things  that  are  contained  in  heaven,  earth,  and  the 
sea,  and  by  the  life  and  tranquillity  of  our  kingdoms, 
that  we  will  with  like  humanity  accept  your  servants, 
if  at  any  time  they  shall  come  to  our  kingdoms." 

On  the  14th  of  July  the  explores  were  near  the 
coast  of  Nonvay,  and  on  approaching  the  North  Caj^e 
saw  before  them  the  Arctic  Ocean  stretching  onward 
to  the  Pole.  Here  Sir  Hugh  exhoi-ted  his  commanders, 
Chancelor  and  Durfooth  to  keep  close  together.  Soon 
after  this  there  arose  such  "  terrible  whirlwinds,"  that 
they  were  obliged  Ui  stand  out  to  the  open  sea,  and 
allow  the  vessels  to  drift  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves. 

Amid  the  thick  mists  of  the  next  stormy  night  the 
vessels  of  Willoughby  and  Chancelor  sepai'ated,  and 
never  again  met.  Willoughby's  pinnace  was  dashed 
to  pieces  amid  the  tem|)est ;  and  next  morning,  when 
light  dawned,  he  could  see  neither  of  his  companions ; 
but,  discovering  at  length  the  smaller  vessel  called  the 
Confidence,  he  continued  his  voyage. 

He  now  sailed  nearly  two  hundred  miles  north-east 
and  by  north,  but  was  astonished  and  bewildered  at 
not  discovering  any  8ymi)tom  of  land ;  whence  it  ap- 
peared that  *'  the  land  lay  not  as  the  globe  made  men- 
tion."   Instead  of  sailing  along  or  towards  Norway,  he 


H  « 


Mt-i 


a 


It'! 


42 


TATE  OF  THE  EXPLORERS. 


II 


(      <> 


1  i! 


•I: 


was  plunging  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  unknown 
abyss  of  the  Northern  Ocean. 

At  length  land  appeared,  but  high,  desolate,  and 
covered  with  snow,  while  no  sound  was  wafted 
over  the  waves,  except  the  crash  of  its  falling  ice  and 
ihe  hungry  roar  of  its  monsters.  This  coast  was  evi- 
dently that  of  Nova  Zembla ;  but  there  was  no  point 
at  which  a  landing  could  be  made.  After  another  at- 
tempt to  push  to  the  northward,  they  turned  to  the 
south-west,  and  in  a  few  days  saw  the  cojist  of  Rus- 
sian Lapland.  Here  they  must  liave  been  very  near 
the  opening  into  the  White  Sea,  into  whicli,  liad  for- 
tune guided  their  sails,  they  would  liave  reached 
Archangel,  have  had  a  joyful  meeting  with  their  com- 
rades, and  spent  the  ■^vinter  in  comfort  and  security. 
An  evil  destiny  led  them  westward. 

The  coast  was  naked,  uninhabited,  and  destitute 
of  shelter,  except  at  one  point,  where  they  found  a 
shore  bold  and  rocky,  but  with  one  or  two  good  har- 
boi-s. '  Hei'e,  though  it  was  only  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember, they  felt  already  all  the  premature  rigoi-s  of  a 
northern  season ;  intense  frost,  snow,  and  ice  driving 
through  the  air,  as  though  it  had  been  the  depth  of 
winter.  The  officers  conceived  it  therefore  most  ex- 
pedient to  search  no  longer  along  these  desolate 
shores,  but  to  take  up  their  quartei-s  in  this  haven  till 
the  ensuing  spring. 

The  naiTative  here  closes,  and  the  darkest  gloom 
involves  the  fate  of  this  firet  English  expedition. 
Neither  the  commander  nor  any  of  his  brave  compan- 
ions ever  returned  to  their  native  shores.  After  long 
suspense  and  anxiety,  tidings  reached  England  that 
some  Russian  sailors,  as  they  wandered  along  these 
di'eary  boundaries,  hatl  been  astonished  by  the  view 


CUANCELOR  8   VISIT  TO   ErsSIA. 


46 


of  a 


long 

that 

these 

view 


of  two  large  ships,  which  they  entered,  ainl  found  the 
gallant  crews  all  lifeless.  There  was  only  the  journal 
of  the  voyage,  with  a  note  written  in  Juuuaiy,  show- 
ing that  at  that  date  the  creAVS  were  still  alive.  What 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  a  catastrophe  so  dismal 
and  so  complete,  whether  the  extremity  of  cold,  fam- 
ine, or  disease,  or  whether  all  these  ills  united  at  once 
assailed  them  can  now  only  be  matter  of  sad  conjec- 
ture.    Thomson  thus  patliet  ically  laments  their  fate : — 

"  Miserable  they, 
Who,  here  entangled  in  the  gathering  ice, 
Take  their  last  look  of  the  descending  sun, 
Wliile,  full  of  death,  and  fierce  with  tenfold  frost, 
The  long,  long  night,  incumbent,  o'er  their  heads. 
Falls  horrible.     Such  was  the  Briton's  fate. 
As  with  ,/?»•«<  prow  (what  have  not  Britons  dared  !) 
lie  for  the  passage  sought,  attempted  since 
So  much  in  vain. •" 

After  parting  A\ath  the  other  two  ships  Chancelor 
reached  the  port  of  Wardhuys  and  after  waiting  seven 
days  for  his  companions,  pushed  fearlessly  on  toward 
the  north-east,  and  sailed  so  far  that  he  came  at  last 
"  to  a  place  where  they  found  no  night  at  all."  Then 
they  reached  the  entrance  of  an  immense  bay  (the 
White  Sea)  and  espied  a  fishing  boat,  the  crew  of 
which,  having  never  seen  a  vessel  of  similar  magnitude, 
Were  as  nuich  astonished  as  the  native  Americans  had 
been  at  the  Spaniards,  and,  taking  the  alarm,  fled  at 
full  speed.  Chancelor,  with  his  party,  pureued  and 
overtook  them ;  whereupon  they  fell  flat  on  the  ground 
half-dead,  crying  for  mercy.  He  immediately  raised 
them  most  courteously,  and  by  looks,  gestures,  and 
gifts,  expressed  the  most  kind  intentions.  Being  then 
allowed  to  de])art,  they  spread  eveiywhere  the  report 
of  the  arrival  "  of  a  strange  nation,  of  singular  gentle- 
ness and  courtesy."    The  natives  came  in  crowds,  and 


44 


DEATH   OF   (!IIANCELOR. 


fll 

I'll 

the  sailors  were  coi)iously  supplied  with  provisions 
and  eveiytliing  they  wanted. 

Chaneelor  now  learned  that  he  was  at  the  extremity 
of  a  vast  country  obscurely  known  as  Russia  or  Mus- 
covy, ruled  by  a  sovereign  named  Ivan  Vasilovitih, 
and  obtained  permission  to  visit  him  at  his  court  at 
Moscow.  The  journey  was  made  on  sledges,  and 
Chaneelor  returned  with  a  letter  from  the  Czar,  grant 
ing  privileges  to  trader,  which  led  to  the  formation 
of  the  Muscovy  C-ompany. 

Chaneelor  went  to  Russia  a  second  time,  in  tlie 
employ  of  this  company ;  and  on  the  homeward  voyage 
with  four  ships  and  an  ambassador  from  the  C^zar, 
two  of  the  vessels  were  wi-eeked  on  the  coast  of  Nor- 
way ;  a  thu'd  reached  the  Thames ;  but  the  fourtli,  in 
which  were  the  chiefs  of  the  expedition,  Avtis  driven 
ashore  on  the  coast  of  Scotland,  Avhere  it  went  entiiely 
to  pieceH.  Chaneelor  endeavored,  in  a  very  dark 
night,  to  convey  himself  and  the  ambassador  asliore 
in  a  boat.  The  skiff  waa  ovenvhelmed  by  the  tem2)est, 
and  Chaneelor  Avas  drowned,  though  .the  ambassador 
succeeded  iji  reaching  the  land.  He  thence  proceeded 
to  London,  where  Philip  and  Mary  gave  him  a  splen- 
did and  pom|x>us  reception. 

In  1556,  a  vessel  called  the  Searchthrift,  was  fitted 
out  and  placed  iindei"  the  command  of  Stephen  Bur- 
roughs, Avho  had  gone  with  Chaneelor  on  his  first 
voyage.  Enthusiasm  and  hope  seem  to  have  risen  as 
high  as  at  the  depai'ture  of  the  first  expedition.  Se- 
bastian Cabot  came  down  to  Gravesend  with  a  large 
party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and,  having  first  gone 
on  board,  and  partaken  of  such  cheer  as  the  vessel 
afforded,  invited  Burroughs  and  lus  company  to  a 
splendid  bancpiet  at   the   sign   of  the  Christopher. 


'■8 


!i 
II 


1i  ; 

■;;'   i 


:     V    1 


I 


rii 


1^ 


■0 


ENGLISH   TRAVELERS   IN   ASIA. 


48 


Among  the  islandn  of  Waygatz,  the  voyagers  fell  in 
with  a  Russian  craft,  and  on  giving  the  master  there- 
of a  present  of  pewter  sp*  ^ns,  he  stated  that  the  jkI- 
joining  country  "vvas  that  of  the  wild  Samoides,  who 
were  said  to  eat  Russians  when  oppf-rtunity  offered. 
At  a  deserted  encamj)ment  of  these  })eople,  Biin-ouglis 
saw  three  hundred  of  their  idols — human  figures  of 
horrible  aspect. 

After  this,  Burroughs  approached  Nova  Zembla,  but 
as  winter  Avas  near  he  concluded  that  it  ^vould  be 
useless  to  attempt  further  explorations  that  season, 
and  so  turned  homeward. 

The  Musco\^  Company  now  attempted  to  op*^n 
communication  with  Persia  and  India  across  the  Cas- 
pian, and  by  ascending  the  Oxus  to  Bochara.  Tliis 
Bcheme  they  prosecuted  at  great  cost,  and  by  a  .'^ries 
of  bold  adventures,  in  which  Jenkinson,  Johnson,  x^l- 
cocke,  and  other  of  their  agents,  penetrated  deep  into 
the  interior  regions  of  Asia.  An  unusual  degree  of 
courage  was  indeed  necessaiy  to  undei'take  tliis  expe- 
dition, A\  hich  \vas  to  be  l)egun  by  passing  round  tlie 
North  Cape  to  the  White  Sea,  then  by  a  land  Journey 
and  \'o}-age  down  the  Volga,  across  the  whole  l»readth 
of  the  Russian  empire  to  Astrakhan,  before  they  could 
evjiii  embark  on  the  Casjtian.  It  was  si)on  ascertained, 
that  no  goods  could  bear  the  cost  of  such  an  immense 
and  (l;ni<ferous  convevance  bv  sea  and  Liud. 

This  channel  of  iuiercourse  witli  the  Indies  liavins: 
failed,  attention  was  again  attracted  t(»  tlie  route  by 
the  north  and  east  of  Asia.  John  Balak,  a\  lio  had 
been  living  at  Duislnirg,  sent  on  much  information  of 
the  country  and  of  the  attempts  of  a  traveler  named 
Assenius  to  2)enetrate  to  ihe  eastward.  lie  described 
a   ri\'cr,    ])robabl}-   the    Yenisei,    do-wn    which    came 


'I    ,i ! 


\'\  I 


\   1 1 


■' 


tj 


'1.1 


If' 


IPii' ; 


1        I  3  (1!) 


i 


III 


I 


i  ■ 


46 


ENGLISH  TRAVELERS  IN  ASIA. 


"  great  vesstels  laden  with  rich  and  precious  nierchan- 
dise,  T)rouglit  by  black  or  swart  people."  In  ascend- 
ing tliis  river,  men  came  to  the  great  lake  of  Baikal, 
on  Avhose  banks  were  the  Kara  Kalmncs,  who,  he  as- 
serted, were  tlie  very  people  of  Cathay.  It  Avas  added, 
that  on  tlie  shores  of  this  lake  had  been  heard  sweet 
harmony  of  bells,  and  that  stately  and  large  bnildings 
had  l)eeii  seen  therein. 

Reasoning  from  this  new  information  Gerard  Mer- 
cator,  the  famous  geographer  and  map-maker  of  those 
days,  f'l aimed  that  a  short  passage  beyond  the  limit 
already  reached  by  navigators  'would  carry  tlieni  to 
Japan  tind  China.  This  Avas  underrating  the  breadth 
of  Asia  by  a  hundred  degrees  of  longitude,  or  more 
than  a  fourth  of  the  circumference  of  the  globe. 

To  realize  these  views,  two  vessels  under  Arthur 
Pet  and  Charles  Jackson  left  Enji-land  in  loSO.  On 
reaching  high  latitudes  they  were  surrounded  with 
fields  of  ice.  Tluy  were  also  enveloped  in  fogs,  and 
obliged  to  fastcMi  to  icebergs,  where,  "  abiding  the 
Lord's  leisure,  tlu^y  continued  with  patience."  Finally 
they  found  their  way  home  without  making  any  prog- 
ressi  at  solviuj^  the  problem. 


'4i 


\ 


!  I 


*i 


l\ 


IK  a 


HI 


ii! 


II   ,<l 


i 


M  i 


CHAPTER  IV. 
DUTCH  EXPEDITIONS  TO  THE  NORTH-EAST. 

(WM.    BARENTZ — COEKELIZ   RYP.) 

The  English  attempts  to  find  a  Noi-tli-east  passage 
to  the  Indies  having  all  signally  failed,  the  Dutch  took 
up  the  enterprise,  and  a  society  of  merchants  (itted  out 
three  vessels,  which  sailed  from  the  Texel  on  the  5th  of 
June.  1594,  under  the  general  guidance  of  AVilliam 
Barentz,  a  noted  pilot,  and  an  e-\])ert  sailor. 

On  apj^roaching  Nova  Zemhla  tAvo  of  the  ships  at- 
tempted to  pass  by  the  old  route  of  the  Strait  of  ^Vay- 
gatz;  hut  Barentz  himself,  taking  a  bolder  course, 
endeavored  to  pass  round  to  the  north^vard  of  Nova 
Zembla,  which  opposed  his  eastward  progress.  Pass- 
ing the  Black  Cape  and  William's  Isle,  they  saw 
various  features  characteristic  of  the  Arctic  world.  At 
the  Orange  Isles,  they  came  upon  three  hundred  wal- 
nis,  lying  in  heaps  upon  the  sand  and  basking  in  the 
sun.  Supposing  that  these  animals  were  helpless  on 
shore,  the  sailoi*8  marched  against  them  with  pikes 
and  hatchets,  but,  to  theii*  su'-prise,  -were  ol)liged  to 
retire  in  dishonor. 

Tlie  crews  had  a  fierce  encounter  Avith  a  Pohu'bear. 
Having  seen  one  on  the  shore,  they  entered  their 
shallop,  and  discharged  several  balls  at  him,  but  Avith- 

47 


If  li 


ir:'! 


11^ 


II 


48 


DUTCH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS. 


•I 


I 


• 


ii 


out  inflicting  any  deadly  wound.  They  were  then 
happy  when  they  succeeded  in  throwing  a  noose  about 
his  neck,  hoping  to  lead  him  like  a  lapdog,  and  caiTy 
him  as  a  trophy  into  Holland.  They  were  not  a  little 
alarmed  by  his  miglity  and  tremendous  struggles ;  but 
what  was  their  consternation,  when  he  fastened  his 
paws  on  the  stern  and  entered  the  boat !  The  whole 
crew  expected  instant  death,  either  from  the  sea  or 
from  his  jaws.  Providentially  at  this  moment  the 
noose  got  entangled  Avith  the  iron  work  of  the  rudder, 
and  the  creature  stru<:c2;led  in  vain  to  extricate  him- 
self.  Seeing  him  thus  fixed,  they  mustered  courage  to 
advance  and  despatch  him  with  their  speai's. 

Barentz,  reached  the  northern  extremity  of  Nova 
Zembla  by  August  1st ;  but  the  wind  blcsv  so  strong, 
that  he  and  his  crew  gave  up  hope  of  passing  that 
point,  and  resolved  to  return. 

The  two  other  vessels  meantime  pushed  on  along 
the  coast.  On  turning  a  point  the  Dutch  observed 
one  of  those  great  collections  of  rudely  carved  images 
which  had  been  formerly  remarked  l>y  Burroughs. 
These  consisted  of  men,  women,  and  childi'en,  some- 
times having  from  four  to  eight  heads,  all  with' their 
faces  turned  eastward,  and  many  horns  of  reindeer  ly- 
ing at  their  feet ;  it  was  called,  therefoi'e,  the  Cape  of 
Idols. 

After  passing. thi'ough  the  strait  of  Waygatz,  and 
sailing  for  some  space  along  the  coast  of  Nova  Zembla, 
they  Avere  re[)elled  by  the  icy  bariiers ;  l)ut  having  by 
perseverance  rounded  these,  they  arrived  at  a  wide, 
blue,  open  sea,  with  the  coast  bending  rapidly  soutk 
ward ;  and  though  this  was  only  the  shore  of  the  (xulf 
of  Obi,  they  doubted  not  that  it  was  the  eastern 
boiuidary  of  Asia,  and  would  afford  an  easy  passage 


I 


«■'  ti 


SECOND   DUTCH   VOYAGE. 


49 


down  upon  China.  Instead,  however,  of  prosecuting 
this  vo}'age,  they  determined  to  hasten  back  and  com- 
municate to  their  countrymen  this  j<->yful  intelligence. 
The  t^vo  divisions  met  on  the  coast  of  Russian  Lapland, 
and  an-ived  in  the  Texel  on  the  16th  of  Sep '.ember. 

Tlie  intelligence  conveyed  in  regard  to  the  latter 
part  of  til  is  expedition  kindled  the  most  sanguine 
hopes  in  the  government  and  people  of  Holland.  Six 
vessels  Avere  fitted  out,  not  as  for  adventure  and  dis- 
covery, Ijut  as  for  assured  success,  and  for  carrying 
on  an  extensive  traffic  in  the  golden  i-egions  of  the 
East.  They  were  laden  with  merchandise,  and  well 
supplied  with  money ;  while  a  seventh,  a  light  yacht, 
was  instructed  to  follow  them  till  they  had  passed 
Tabis,  the  supposed  bounding  promontory  of  Asia; 
when,  having  finally  extricated  themselves  from  the 
Polar  ices  and  directed  their  course  to  China,  it  was 
to  return  tt)  Holland  with  the  joyful  tidings. 

The  squadron  sailed  from  the  Texel,  the  L'd  of  June 
1505.  iSothing' great  occurred  till  the  4th  of  August 
when  they  reached  the  strait  between  Waygatz  and 
the  continent,  to  which  they  had  given  the  appellation 
of  the  Strait  of  Nassau.  They  came  to  tl:e  Cai>e  of 
Idols;  but  though  these  were  still  drawn  up  in  full 
array,  no  trace  was  found  of  the  habitations  Avhi<.'h 
they  might  have  seemed  to  indicate.  A  Russian  ves- 
sel, ho^^■ever,  constructed  of  pieces  of  l)ark  sewed  to- 
gether, Avas  met  on  its  way  from  the  Pechora  to  the 
Obi  in  search  of  the  teeth  of  the  sea-horse,  -whale-oil, 
and  geese.  The  sailors  accosted  the  Dutch  in  a  \ery 
fiiendly  manner,  pi'esonted  eight  fat  birds,  ami  on 
going  on  ])oard  one  of  the  vessels,  were  struck  with 
astonislnnent  at  its  magnitude,  itsc([nipment-<,  and  the 
high  order  w  ith  which  ever)  thing  was  arranged.     This 


!',d 


!i  1'! 
f    .1 


50 


DUTCH   ABCnO  EXPEDITIONS. 


(;: 


being  a  fast-day,  tliey  refused  meat,  butter,  and  cheese  ; 
but,  on  being  offere'l  a  raw  herring,  eagerly  SAvallowed 
it  entire,  head  and  tail  inclusive. 

The  navigat<ji-^,  after  considerable  search,  fell  in 
with  a  party  of  Samoiedes,  who  manifested  much 
jealousy  of  the  strangers,  and  on  the  approach  of 
the  interpreter,  di-ew  their  arrows  to  shoot  him  ;  but 
he  called  out,  "  AVe  are  friends ";  upon  "which  they 
laid  down  their  A\eajx>ns,  and  saluted  him  in  the  Rus- 
sian style,  l)y  1>ending  their  hea<^l3  to  the  ground. 

On  hearing  a  gun  fire<i,  they  ran  away  and  leajDed 
like  madmen,  till  assured  that  no  harm  was  intended. 
A  sailor  boldly  went  up  to  the  chief,  dignified  in  the 
narrative  M-ith  the  title  of  king,  and  presented  him 
with  some  biscuit,  which  the  monarch  gracioussly  ac- 
ce^pted  and  ate,  though  looking  round  somewhat  sus- 
piciously. At  length  the  parties  took  a  friendly 
leave ;  but  a  native  ran  after  the  foreigners  Avith 
signs  of  great  anger,  on  account  of  one  of  their  rude 
statues  Avhich  a  sailor  liad  carrie<l  off. 

Being  informed  tliat  a  few  days'  sail  would  bring 
them  to  a  point  beyond  which  there  was  a  large  open 
sea,  they  made  repeated  attempts  to  reach  it,  but  were 
driven  back  by  floating  ice,  and  at  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember were  forced  to  return  to  Holland  without 
having  accomplished  any  one  of  the  brilliiiut  exploits 
for  ■which  they  had  set  out 

Another  expe<lition  of  two  vessels,  entnisted 
to  Barents  and  C'orneli^  R>'p,  sailed  from  Amster- 
dam on  the  10th  of  3Iav,  1.506.  As  homesickness 
was  suspected  to  have  some  relation  to  the  failure  of 
former  expeditions,  none  but  unmarried  persons  were 
admitted  as  memljers. 

Avoiding  the  coast  of  Kui^ia  they  pushed  north- 


'.;m 


DI800VBBT  OF  SPITZBERGliaT. 


61 


eriy,  and  on  the  22d  saw  the  Shetland  Islands.  On 
the  9th  of  June  they  discovered  a  long  island  rising 
abruptly  into  steep  and  lofty  cliffs,  and  named  it  Bear 
Island.  The  horror  of  this  isle  to  their  view  must 
have  been  imspeakable :  the  prospect  dreary ;  black 
where  not  hid  with  snow,  and  broken  into  a  thousand 
preciiiices.  No  sounds  but  of  the  dashing  of  the 
waves,  the  crashing  collision  of  floating  ice,  tlie  dis- 
cordant notes  of  myriads  of  sea-fowl,  the  yelping  of 
Arctic  foxes,  the  snorting  of  the  Avalruses,  or  the 
roaring  of  the  Polar  bears. 

Proceeding  onward,  they  reached  the  latitude  of  80°, 
and  discovered  the  coast  of  the  Spitzbergen  Archipel- 
ago, a  cluster  of  islands  lying  nearer  the  North  l*ole 
than  any  other  known  land,  excepting  the  regions  dis- 
covered by  Kane,  Hayes,  and  JIall.  Not^vithstand- 
ing  its  high  latitude,  Spitzbergen  has  been  much 
frecpiented  by  whaling-ships,  walrus  hunters  and  ame- 
teur  sportsmen. 

Tlie  mariners,  finding  their  progress  eastward  stop- 
ped  by  this  line  of  coast,  now  retraced  their  route 
along  its  deep  bays,  still  steering  soutlnvard  till  they 
found  themselves  accain  at  Bear  Island.  Here  Corneliz 
and  Barentz  separated ;  the  former  proposing  to  push 
again  northward. 

Barentz  proceeded  south-easterly  intending  to  round 
the  northern  point  of  Nova  Zembla.  On  the  Gtli  of 
August,  he  fastened  his  vessel  to  a  large  iceberg  amid 
drifting  ice,  off  Cape  Nassau. 

On  the  10th,  the  ice  began  to  separate,  and  the  sea- 
men I'emarked  that  the  berg  to  "SNliich  they  Avere 
moored  Avas  fixed  to  the  bottom,  and  that  all  the 
others  struck  against  it.  Afraid  that  these  loose 
pieces  would  collect  and  enclose  them,  they  sailed  on, 


^i:  1 


!  IS     Uli: 


tm%iv>. 


P    ':     1' 


'il 


i 


)!l 


52 


DUTCH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS. 


moorinj;^  theniHelves  to  successive  fragments,  one  of 
whicli  rose  like  a  steeple,  Leing  twenty  futlioms 
ttl)()ve  and  twelve  beneath  the  water.  They  saw 
around  tlieni  more  than  four  hundred  large  ictjhergs, 
the  fear  of  which  made  them  keep  close  to  the  shore, 
not  being  aware  that  in  that  cpiarter  they  were 
fonned. 

Steering  on  tliey  came  to  Orange  Island,  which  forms 
the  northern  extremity  of  Kova  Zembla,  Here  ten 
men  swam  on  shore,  and,  having  mounted  several  jiiles 
of  ice  ■which  rose,  as  it  were,  into  a  little  mountain, 
they  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  coast  tending 
soutlnvard,  and  a  wide  open  sea  to  the  south-east. 
They  hastened  back  to  Barents  Avith  these  joyful 
tidings,  and  the  success  of  the  voyage  was  considered 
almost  secure. 

But  these  hopes  were  delusive.  After  doubling 
Cape  Desire  they  were  drawn  into  what  they  called 
Icy  Port,  and  the  vessel  was  thrown  into  a  i)osition 
almost  perpendicular.  From  this  critical  attitude  they 
were  relieA'ed  next  day ;  but  fresh  masses  of  ice  con- 
tinually increased  the  teri-ible  rampai-ts  around  them. 

The  explorers  now  felt  that  they  nuist  bid  adieu 
for  this  year  to  all  hopes  of  escape  f i-om  their  icy  prison. 
As  the  vessel  was  cracking  continually,  and  opening  in 
dilferent  quarters,  they  made  no  dou})t  of  its  going  to 
jiieces,  and  could  ho2)e  to  sumdve  the  Avinter  t)nly  by 
constructinfj  a  hut,  which  misrht  shelter  them  from 
the  approaching  rigor  of  the  season.  Pai-ties  sent 
into  the  country  reported  having  seen  footsteps  of  rein- 
deei',  also  a  i'i\er  of  fresh  Avatei",  and,  what  A\as  more 
important  still,  a  great  quantity  of  fine  trees,  Avith  the 
roots  still  attached  to  them,  strewed  upon  the  shore, 
all  brought  down  the  rivers  of  Russia  and  Tartary. 


IMPniSONKT)    FOU   THE   WIXTKIl. 


53 


nu'so  cireiiinstiincfis  clioered  the  mnriiu'i'.s;  tliey 
tinisted  that  Providence,  wliicli  luid  in  tlii.s  surprising 
luiuiner  furnislicd  ninteriuls  to  build  a  liouse,  and  futd 
to  wurni  it,  Avould  su]>]»ly  also  Avhatever  was  necessary 
for  tlieir  ])assing  tlirougli  (lie  a])])r()aching  winter,  and 
for  returniu'f  at  ]en'''tli  t(*  tlieir  iiative  eountrv.  A 
sledge  was  instantly  constructed ;  three  men  cut  the 
wood,  while  ten  drew  it  to  the  spot  inai'ked  out  for 
the  liut.  They  souglit  to  raise  a  rampart  of  earth  for 
shelter  and  security,  and  employed  a  h)ng  line  of  fu'e 
in  the  ho])e  of  softening  the  ground,  l)ut  in  vain.  The 
carpenter  having  died,  it  Avas  found  impossilde  to  dig 
a  grave  for  him,  and  they  lodged  his  Lody  in  a  cleft 
of  the  rock. 

The  building  of  the  hut  was  carried  on  with  ardor, 
yet  the  cold  endured  in  this  operation  was  intense, 
and  almost  insui)poi'table.  The  snoAV  sometimes  fell 
so  thick,  for  days  successively,  that  the  seamen  could 
not  stir  from  under  cover.  They  liad  at  the  same 
time  hard  and  perp(^tual  combats  Avith  the  Polar  bear. 
One  day  three  of  these  furious  auimals  chased  tlie 
working  party  into  the  vessel  and  advanced  furiously 
to  attack  them,  but  linally  retreated. 

Sometime  after  this  a  "westerly  Avind  cleared  away 
the  ice  and  they  saw  a  wide  open  sea  without,  while 
the  vessel  Avas  enclosed  A\ithin,  as  it  were,  l)y  a  solid 
Avail.  By  October  they  completed  their  hut,  and  pre- 
pared to  convey  thither  their  provisions  and  stores. 
Some  painful  discoAeries  Avere  noAV  made.  Several 
tuns  of  tine  Dantzic  beer,  of  medicinal  (juality,  from 
Avhich  they  had  anticipated  nuich  comfort,  had  fi'ozen 
so  hard  as  to  burst  the  casks ;  the  contents  remained  in 
the  form  of  ice,  but  Avlieu  thaAved  it  tasted  like  bad 
Avater. 


I ,  >t'i 


V    i'l  i! 


V 


vQ 


<^1 


<P 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


I.I 


u 


2.2 


20 


1.8 


1.25 


U_  ill  1.6 


Hiotographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


k 


A 


4>  ^.s 


<'.   <if 


A 


f/ 


V 

^ 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y    MSBO 

(716)  873-4S03 


^- 


r>.% 


54 


DUTCH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS. 


'  :' 


Tlie  sun  began  now  to  pay  only  shoi-t  visits,  and  to 
give  signs  of  approaching  departure.  He  rose  in  the 
south-south-east  and  set  in  the  south-soutli-west,  while 
the  moon  was  scarcely  dimmed  by  his  j>reseiice.  On 
the  4th  of  November  the  sky  was  calm  and  clear,  but 
no  sun  rose  or  set. 

The  dieury  winter  night  of  three  months,  which 
had  now  set  in,  was  not,  however,  without  some  alle- 
viations. The  moon,  now  at  the  full,  wheeled  her  pale 
but  perpetual  circle  roun<i  the  horizon.  With  the  sun 
disai)peared  also  the  bear,  and  in  his  room  came  the 
Arctic  fox,  a  beautiful  little  creature,  whose  flesh  re- 
sembled kid,  and  funiished  a  variety  to  their  meals. 
They  found  great  difficulty  in  the  measurenjent  of 
time,  and  on  the  6th  rose  late  in  the  day,  when 
a  controveisy  ensued  whether  it  was  day  or  night. 
The  cold  had  stopped  the  movements  of  all  the  clocks, 
but  they  afterward  fonned  a  sand-glass  of  twelve 
hours,  ]>y  Avliich  tliey  contrived  tolerably  to  estimate 
their  time. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  as  the  sailors  lay  in  bed, 
they  heard  from  without  a  noise  as  tremendous  as  if 
all  the  mountaiufi  of  ice  by  which  they  were  surround- 
ed had  fallen  in  pieces  over  each  other,  and  the  first 
light  which  they  afterward  obtained  showed  a  consider- 
able extent  of  open  sea. 

As  the  season  advanced,  the  cold  became  always 
more  and  more  intense.  Early  in  D  cen^ber  a  <lense 
fall  of  snow  stopped  up  the  smoke  flues  so  that  nothing 
but  a  low  fire  could  be  kej)t  up.  The  room  was  thus 
kept  atalow  temperature,  which  was  partially  remedied 
by  warming  the  beds  with  heated  stones.  Ice  two 
inches  thick  formed  on  the  walls ;  and  their  suffering 
came  to  such  an  extremity,  that,  casting  at  each  other 


ENCOUNTER   WITO    A    BEAU. 


65 


languishing  and  piteous  looks,  they  anticipated  the 
extinction  of  the  life  of  the  whole  crew. 

They  now  resolved  that,  cost  what  it  might,  they 
should  for  once  be  thoroughly  warmed.  They  repaired, 
therefore,  to  the  shij),  whence  they  brought  an  ample 
supply  of  coal ;  and  having  kindled  an  immense  fire, 
and  carefully  stopped  up  the  windows  and  every 
aperture  by  which  the  cold  could  penetrate,  they  did 
bring  themselves  into  a  most  comfortable  temperature. 
In  this  delicious  state,  to  which  they  had  been  so  long 
stiangei-s,  they  went  to  rest,  and  talked  gayly  for  some 
time  l)efore  falling  asleep.  Suddenly,  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  several  awakened  in  a  state  of  the  most 
painful  vertigo;  their  cries  roused  the  rest  and  all 
found  themselves,  more  or  less,  in  tlie  same  alarming 
pretlicament.  On  attempting  to  rise,  they  became 
dizzy,  and  could  neither  stand  nor  walk.  At  length 
two  or  three  contrived  to  stagger  towards  the  door; 
but  the  fii'st  mIio  opened  it  fell  down  insensible  among 
the  snow,  but  the  wintiy  air,  which  had  been  their 
greatest  dread,  now  restored  life  to  the  whole  party. 

In  the  midst  of  these  sufferings,  remembering  that 
the  r)th  of  Januaiy  was  the  feast  of  the  Kings,  they 
besought  the  master  that  they  might  be  aHowe<l  to 
celebrate  that  great  Dutch  festival.  They  had  saved 
a  little  wine  and  two  juninds  of  flour,  with  which  they 
fried  pancakes  in  oil ;  the  tickets  were  drawn,  the  gun- 
ner was  crownied  king  of  Nova  Zend)la,  and  the  eve- 
ning passed  as  merrily  as  if  they  had  been  at  home 
rouml  their  native  fireside. 

About  the  middle  of  Januarj'  the  crews  began  to 
experience  some  abatement  of  that  deep  darkness  in 
which  they  had  so  long  been  involved,  and  affairs 
assumed  a  more  cheerful  aspect.     Instead  of  constant- 


66 


DUTCH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS. 


I  B' 


ly  moping  in  the  liut,  the  men  went  out  daily,  em- 
ph^yed  themselves  in  walking,  running,  and  athletic 
games,  which  warmed  their  bodies  and  preserved 
their  health.  With  the  sun,  however,  appeared  their 
old  enemy,  the  bear.  One  attacked  them  amid  so 
thick  a  mist  that  they  could  not  see  to  point  their 
pieces,  and  sought  shelter  in  the  hut.  The  bear  came 
to  the  door,  and  made  the  most  desperate  attempts  to 
burst  it  open ;  but  the  master  kept  his  back  firmly 
set  ascainst  it,  and  the  animal  at  last  retreated.  Soon 
after  he  mounted  the  roof,  where,  havii  g  in  vain  at- 
tempted to  enter  by  the  chimney,  he  made  furious 
attempts  to  pull  it  down,  having  toni  the  sail  in 
which  it  was  wrapped ;  all  the  while  his  frightful  and 
hungry  roarings  spread  dismay  tlu'ough  the  mansion 
beneath ;  at  length  he  retreated.  Another  came  so 
close  to  the  man  on  guard,  Avho  was  looking  another 
way,  that,  on  receiving  the  alarm  from  those  within 
and  looking  about,  he  saw  himseK  almost  in  the  jaws 
of  the  bear;  however,  lie  had  the  presence  of  mind 
instantly  to  fire,  when  the  animal  was  struck  in  the 
head,  retreated,  and  was  aftenvard  pursued  and  de- 
spatched. 

In  February,  a  heavy  north-east  gale  brought  a  cold 
more  intense  than  ever,  and  buried  the  hut  again 
under  snow.  This  was  the  more  deeply  felt,  as  the 
men's  strength  and  supply  of  generous  food  to  recruit 
it  were  alike  on  the  decline.  They  no  longer  at- 
tempted daily  to  clear  a  road,  but  those  who  were 
able  went  out  and  in  by  the  chimney.  A  dreadful 
calamity  then  overtook  them  in  the  failure  of  their 
stock  of  wood  for  fuel.  They  began  to  gather  all  the 
fragments  which  had  been  thrown  away,  or  lay  scat- 
tered about  the  hut ;  but  these  being  soon  exhausted, 


THE   SHIP   DESERTED. 


57 


it  beliooveJ  them  to  carry  out  their  sledge  in  search 
of  more.  To  Jig  the  trees,  liowever,  out  of  the  deep 
snow,  and  drag  them  to  tlie  hut,  was  a  task  which,  in 
their  present  exhausted  state,  ^vouhl  have  appeared 
impossible,  had  they  not  felt  that  they  must  do  it  or 
perish. 

In  the  course  of  March  and  A})ril,  the  weather  be- 
came milder,  yet  the  bamers  which  enclosed  the  ship 
continued,  and,  to  their  inexpressible  grief,  rapidly  in- 
creased. In  the  mid<lle  of  March  these  ramparts  were 
only  75  paces  broad,  in  the  beginning  of  IMay  tliey 
were  500.  These  piles  of  ice  resembled  the  houses  of 
a  great  city,  interspersed  with  apparent  towers,  steeples, 
and  chimneys.  The  sailors,  viewing  with  desi)air  this 
position  of  the  vessel,  earnestly  entreated  permission 
to  fit  out  the  two  boats,  and  in  them  to  undertake  the 
voyage  homeward.  The  mere  digging  of  the  boats 
from  under  the  snoAV  was  a  most  laborious  task,  and 
the  equipment  of  them  would  have  been  next  to  im- 
possible, but  for  the  enthusiasm  with  which  it  was  un- 
dertaken. 

By  the  11th  of  June  they  had  the  boats  fitted  out^ 
their  clothes  packinl,  and  the  provisions  embarked. 
Then,  however,  they  had  to  cut  a  way  through  the 
steeps  and  walls  of  ice  wliich  intervened  between  them 
and  the  open  sea.  Amid  the  extreme  fatigue  of  dig- 
ging, breaking,  and  cutting,  they  were  kept  in  play 
by  a  huge  bear  which  had  come  over  the  frozen  sea 
from  Tartary. 

At  length  the  crew,  having  embarked  all  their 
clothes  and  provisions,  set  sail  on  the  14th  with  a 
westerly  breeze.  In  the  three  following  days  they 
passed  the  Cape  of  Isles,  CajJC  Desire,  and  came  to 
Orange  Isle,  always  Avorking  their  way  through  much 


58 


DUTCH    AKCTIO    EXPEDITIONS. 


encumbering  ice.  As  they  were  off  Icy  Cajie,  Bar- 
entz,  who  had  been  long  struggling  with  severe  ill- 
ness, desired  to  be  lifted  up  that  he  might  take  a  last 
view  of  that  fatal  and  terrible  boundary,  and  he  gazed 
upon  it  for  a  considerable  time. 

On  the  following  day  the  boats  were  again  involved 
amid  masses  of  drift-ice ;  but  one  of  the  men  boldly 
took  a  rope  to  a  solid  floe,  and  by  this  means  all  the 
crew,  then  tlu  stores,  and  finally  the  boat  itself,  reach- 
ed a  secure  position.  During  this  detention  Barentz 
died,  to  the  great  grief  of  all  his  crew. 

On  the  22d  there  appeared  open  sea  at  a  little  dis- 
tance, and  having  dragged  the  boats  over  succej^sive 
pieces  of  ice,  they  were  again  afloat.  In  the  three  fol- 
lowing days  they  reached  Cape  Nassau,  the  ice  fre- 
quently stopping  them,  but  opening  again  like  the 
gates  of  a  sluice,  and  allowing  a  jjassage.  On  the  2<3th 
they  were  obliged  once  more  to  disembark  and  pitch 
their  tents  on  the  frozen  surface. 

On  the  7th  of  July  they  again  dragged  the  boats  to 
an  open  sea,  and  from  this  date  their  progress  though 
often  obstructed  was  never  8topj>ed.  On  the  2Sth 
they  approached  the  southern  i)art  of  Nova  Zembla 
where  they  found  two  Russian  vessels  at  anchor,  and 
were  received  by  their  crews  Avith  much  courtesy. 

After  mutual  presents,  the  parties  set  out  to  sail 
together  to  Waygatz,  but  ^vere  separated  by  a  gale. 
On  the  4th  of  August  the  Dutch  came  in  view  of  the 
coast  of  Russia,  and  after  a  tedious  voyage  along  the 
shore  reached  Kola,  where  they  found  Corneliz,  who 
conveye<l  them  to  Amsterdam.  Corneliz  had  not  been 
successful  in  making   any  discovery  of   inijjortauce. 


VUTiVK  CliUbii  AMU  UlUMIUHT  BUM-NOBTUEBN  BUS8IA. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  MARTIN  FROBISIIER 
AND  JOHN  DAVIS. 

In  the  early  rei  n  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  great 
enterprise  of  finding  a  North-western  i)assage  was 
again  revived  in  England.  Since  the  discoveries  of 
Cahot  no  progress  had  been  made  at  solving  the 
problem,  although  two  English  ex2>editions  had  sailed 
to  Northern  America. 

The  first  one  consisted  of  two  ships,  having  on 
board  "  divers  cunning  men,"  one  of  whom  \\"as  a  canon 
of  St.  Paul's,  a  great  mathematician,  and  wealthy. 
The  ships  reached  Newfoundland,  where  one  of  them 
was  wrecked  ;  the  other  vessel  sailed  soutliward,  and 
then  returned  to  England. 

Nine  years  afterwards,  another  voyag(>  ^vas  made  in 
the  same  direction  by  a  company  of  adventurers  of 
highest  respectability.  This  gay  band  mustered  in 
military  array  at  Gravesend,  an<l  having  taken  the 
sacrament,  went  on  board  ship.  They  had  a  long  and 
tedious  voyage,  during  which  their  buoyant  spirits 
considerably  flagged.  Having  reached  Newfoundland, 
they  saw  a  boat  with  the  "natural  peojde  of  the 
country."  A  barge  was  fitted  out  t<j  treat  ^^•itll  them ; 
but  the  savages,  alanned,  fled  precipitately,  relincpiish- 
ing  the  side  of  a  bear  which  they  had  been  roasting. 

50 


60 


EXGIJSII   AD\T!:NTtTKER8. 


The  const  was  barren  and  »les<)late,  and  a  famine 
soon  rose  to  sueh  a  pitch  as  to  drive  thcni  to  the 
extremity  of  cannibalism.  They  had  an-angcd  tlio 
casting  of  h)ts  to  decide  whose  life  should  bcf  sacrificed 
to  save  the  rest,  when  a  French  ship  up])ear('d  in  view. 
Finding  it  to  l)e  both  in  jrood  order  and  well  stored 
Avith  provisions,  the  English  scrupled  not  to  attack 
and  scMze  it ;  .and  in  it  they  nnidc  their  way  to  Eng- 
land in  a  most  miserable  condition,  leaving  their  own 
bark  to  tlu?  ejected  crew. 

8o(«i  afterwards  the  Frenchmen  reached  P^i-ance, 
and  raised  such  a  clamor  about  the  outrage  of  the 
Englishmen,  that  King  Henry  liberally  paid  for  their 
losses  from  his  own  pui-se. 

The  next  Fnglish  exjiedition  to  the  North-west  was 
planned  and  conducted  by  Martin  Frobisher,  a  native 
of  Yorkshire,  who  subsequently  distinguished  liim- 
self  by  naval  exploits  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  ' 
Frobisher  regarded  the  discovery  of  a  North-west 
I)assage  "  as  the  only  thing  of  the  w<n-ld,  yet  left  ini- 
done,  whereby  a  notable  man  might  become  famous;" 
and  for  fifteen  years  in  city  and  court  he  solicited  the 
means  for  undertaking  the  enterprise. 

"With  thiee  small  vessels  (35,  30,  and  10  tons,)  ^ 
Frobisher,  on  the  8th  of  June  157fi,  j)assed  Greenwich 
where  the  court  then  resided,  and  w'hen  opposite  the 
palace  fired  a  salute  in  honor  of  the  cpieen,  who  gazed 
at  the  fleet  from  the  window  and  waved  her  hand  to 
the  dejiarting  exploreiu 

Early  in  July,  Frobisher  saw  a  range  of  awful  and 
precipitous  sunnnits,  which,  even  in  the  height  of  sum- 
mer, were  white  with  snow ;  this  was  the  southi^rn 
point  of  Greenland.  He  then  steered  westward,  and 
experienced  a  severe  gale,  during  which  his  smallest 


DISC'OVKUY   OF   "  META   INCOGNITA." 


61 


vessel  sunk  beneath  the  waves  with  all  en  Loard. 
Appalled  at  this  disaster  one  of  the  remaining  ve.sHela 
turned  hack,  hut  Frobinher  in  the  third  one  i)ushed 
forward,  and  on  the22d  of  July  reachc  1  tho  ic'e-l)()und 
coasts  of  Labrador.  Sailing  northward  ho  came  in 
August  to  more  accessible  land,  and  named  it  "  Meta 
Incognita." 

Seeing  seven  boats  J)!}' ing  along  the  beach,  Fr  1  )isher 
sent  out  one  of  his  own,  thecrewof  wliicli,  Ijy  holding 
up  a  white  cloth,  induced  a  native  canoe  t(»  ap[)roach  ; 
but  on  seeing  the  ship  the  people  iniiuediately  turned 
back.  Frol>isher  then  went  on  shore,  and,  by  the  dis- 
tribution of  presents,  enticed  one  of  the  natives  on 
board.  This  person,  being  well  treated  with  food  and 
drink,  made  on  his  return  so  favorable  a  report,  that 
nineteen  followed  his  example. 

The  natives  were  next  day  more  shy,  and  Avitli 
some  difiiculty  one  of  them,  by  the  alliii'ements  of  a 
bell,  was  drawn  on  Ixvird.  Frobisher,  having  no  in- 
tention to  detain  him,  sent  a  boat  Avitli  live  men-  to 
put  him  (.)n  shore  ;  but,  urged  by  curiosity,  they  went 
on  to  join  the  nuun  body  of  the  natives,  and  were 
never  allowed  to  return.  After  spending  two  days 
firing  guns,  and  looking  for  the  missing  ineii,  Fro- 
bisher sailed  for  home,  where  he  arri\ed  in  October. 

Although  Frol)ii-her  had  made  but  little  progress 
towards  a  westerr.  passage,  his  voyage  ^vas  considered 
highl}'  creditable,  and  interest  in  the  new  country- 
was  greatly  excited  from  the  fact  that  a  large  sinning 
stone,  Avhich  Frobisher  had  l)rought  home  and  divid- 
ed among  his  friends,  was  pronounced  by  the  gold- 
smiths to  be  gold  ore.  A  new  expedition  of  three 
ships  was  immedijitely  orgunized ;  England  was  thrown 
into  a  ferment  of  joy;  and  Frobisher  being  invited 


62 


FUVUli^UJilW  t*   SECOND   VOVAOE. 


I  l< 


to  visit  the  quoon,  received  her  hand  to  kiss,  with 
many  gracious  expressions. 

The  new  exj)eilitiou  sailed  on  the  20tli  of  May, 
1577  ;  on  tlie  8th  of  June  it  touched  at  tlie  Orkneys 
for  fresh  water.  The  poor  inhabitants,  liaving,  it  is 
probable,  suffered  from  the  inroads  of  j)irateH,  fled 
from  their  housci^  with  cries  and  shritfks,  but  were 
soon,  by  courteous  traatment,  induced  to  return. 

The  English  now  entered  on  their  perilous  voyage 
through  the  northern  ocean,  during  which  tliey  were 
much  cheered  with  the  perpetual  light.  At  length 
they  touched  at  the  sound  or  deep  indentation 
of  waters  kno>vn  as  Frobisher  Strait — afterwards 
said  to  be  a  sound,  and  recently  })roved  such 
by  the  researches  of  the  late  Captain  Hall.  The 
coast,  ho\vever,  was  found  guarded  by  a  mighty  wall 
of  ice,  which  the  ships  could  not  penetrate ;  but  the 
captain,  with  two  of  his  boats,  worked  his  way  into 
the  sound,  and  began  to  survey  the  country. 

So  crude  were  then  the  ideas  respecting  the 
geography  of  these  regions,  that  they  imagined  the 
coast  on  their  left  to  be  America,  and  that  on  their 
right  Asia.  Dmding  on  the  Ameiican  side  they 
scrambled  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  erected  a  column, 
which,  after  the  great  patron  of  the  exj)edition,  was 
called  Mount  Warwick.  On  their  return,  cries  were 
heard  like  the  lowing  of  bulls,  and  a  large  body  of 
natives  ran  up  to  them  in  a  very  gay  and  cordial 
manner.  Tliey  began  an  eager  traffic  for  the  trifling 
ornaments  displayed  by  their  visitors,  yet  declined 
every  invitation  to  go  on  board,  while  the  English  on 
their  part  did  not  choose  to  accede  to  their  overtures 
of  going  into  the  countiy.  Frobisher  and  a  compan- 
ion, meeting  two  of  the  natives  apart,  rashly  seized 


FIOIIT   WITII   ESQUIMAUX. 


68 


and  bej^nn  dragging  them  to  the  Loats,  lioping 
to  gain  their  friendship  by  presentu  and   ('(HutcMy. 

On  the  Mlij)i)ery  ground,  however,  tlieiv  feet  ga\  e  wny, 
the  EwiiuiinaMX  broke  h)0«e,  and  found  beliind  a  rook 
their  bows  and  arrows,  which  they  began  to  disc  imn^e 
with  great  fury.  Frobisher  and  his  conini  ..,  seized 
with  a  ]wu'ie,  fled  full  speed,  and  the  f«)rMier  reiiclied 
the  boat  with  an  arrow  sticking  In  his  leg.  The  rrew, 
i\;!igining  that  something  tnily  serious  must  have 
driven  back  their  commander  in  such  disconititure, 
ga\  e  the  alarm,  and  ran  to  the  rescue.  The  two  l)ar- 
bariana  instantly  fled ;  but  one  of  them  w  as  caught 
and  taken  to  the  boat. 

Meantime  the  ships  outside  were  involved  in  a 
dreadful  tempest,  being  t()s.sed  amid  those  tremendous 
ice-islands,  the  least  of  which  would  have  been  sulU- 
eient  to  luive  crushed  them  into  a  tliousand  pieces. 
To  avoid  dangers  wliich  so  closely  beset  them,  they 
were  obliged  to  tack  fourteen  times  in  four  hours; 
but  with  the  benefit  of  the  perpetiuil  light,  the  .skill 
of  their  steersman,  and  the  aid  of  Providence,  they 
weathered  the  temi)est,  without  the  necessity  of  driv- 
ing out  to  sea  and  abandoning  the  boats.  On  the 
19th,  Frobislier  came  out  to  the  ship  Avith  a  large 
store  of  glittering  stone ;  upon  which,  says  one  of  the 
adventurers,  "we  were  all  rapt  wi<^h  joy,  forgetting 
both  where  we  were  and  what  we  haa  sulTered.  Be- 
hold," he  continues,  "the  glorj'  of  man,  —  t, -night 
looking  for  death,  to-morro\v  devising  how  to  satisfy 
his  greedy  appetite  with  gold." 

A  north  West  gale  now  sprang  up;  before  which, 
like  magic,  the  mighty  bamei-s  of  ice  by  which  the 
ships  had  been  shut  out  melted  away.  They  had  now 
a  broad  and  open  passage  by  which  they  entered  the 


0 


u 


RELICS   OF  THE   LOST  SAILOSS. 


sound,  wliich  was  a  strait  leading  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  In  a  run  of  upwards  of  thirty  leagues  they 
landed  at  different  points,  and,  mounting  to  the  topa 
of  hills,  took  possession  of  the  country  with  solemn 
and  sacred  ceremonies,  in  name  of  her  majesty. 

On  questioning  their  prisoner,  he  admitted  knowl- 
edge respecting  the  five  men  captured  in  the  preceding 
year,  but  repelled  most  strenuously  the  signs  l)y  which 
the  English  intimated  their  belief  that  they  had  been 
killed  and  eaten.  However,  a  dark  source  of  suspicion 
was  soon  opened  ;  for  some  boats  of  the  natives  were 
found,  which,  along  with  bones  of  dogs,  flesh  of  un- 
known animnls,  and  other  strange  things,  contained 
an  English  canvas  douldet,  a  shirt,  a  girdle,  three 
shoes  for  contrary  feet, — apparel  which,  beyond  all 
doubt,  Ijelonged  to  their  countrymen  lost  in  the  pre- 
ceding year. 

Hoping  to  recover  them,  they  left  a  letter  in  the 
boat,  with  pen,  ink,  and  i)aper,  and  a  party  of  forty, 
under  Charles  Jacknian,  marched  inland  to  take  tho 
natises  in  tlie  rear,  and  ilrive  them  upon  the  coast^ 
where  Frobisher  with  his  boats  waited  to  intercept 
them.  The  wretches  had  removed  their  tents  into 
the  interior ;  but  the  invaders,  after  marching  over 
several  mountains,  descried  a  cluster  of  huts,  whose 
inmates  hastened  to  their  caiioes,  and  j)ushed  out  full 
speed  to  sea.  They  rowed  with  a  rapidity  wliich 
would  have  baffled  all  pureuit,  had  not  Frobisher 
with  his  boats  held  the  entrance  of  the  sound  and 
there  awaited  them. 

As  soon  as  the  Esquimaux  saw  themselves  thus 
beset,  tliey  laiided  among  the  rocks,  abandoning  their 
skifl's.  The  Englisli  rushed  on  to  the  assault;  but 
the  natives,  stationed  on  the  rocks,  resisted  the  land- 


% 


FEMALE    PRISONEKS. 


65 


ing,  and  stood  their  ground  with  the  most  savage  and 
desperate  valor.  Overwhelmed  with  clouds  of  ar- 
rows, they  picked  them  up,  plucking  them  even  out 
of  their  bodies,  and  returned  them  with  fuiy.  On 
feeling  themselves  mortally  wounded,  they  plunged 
from  the  rocks  into  the  sea,  lest  they  should  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  conquerors. 

At  length,  completely  worsted,  and  having  lost  five 
or  six  of  their  number,  they  sprang  up  among  the 
cliffs  and  eladed  pursuit.  There  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  assailants  only  two  females,  who  caused  some 
speculation.  One  was  stiicken  in  years,  and  present- 
ed a  visage  so  singularly  hideous,  that  her  moccasins 
were  pulled  off  to  ascertain  if  she  was  not  the  great 
enemy  of  mankind  in  disguise.  The  other  female 
was  young,  with  a  child  in  her  arms ;  and  being,  from 
her  peculiar  costume,  mistaken  for  a  man,  had  l)een 
fired  at  and  the  child  wounded.  It  was  in  vain  to 
apply  remedies ;  she  licked  off  Avith  her  tongue  the 
dressings  and  salves,  and  cured  it  in  her  own  way. 
She  and  the  male  captive  formerly  taken  appeared  to 
be  straiitroi'H,  but  on  becomini'  intimate  found  much 
comfort  in  each  other's  society,  and  showed  a  atrong 
mutual  attachment.  >•>*-■'  '    ., 

FrobislKn*  still  cherished  hopes  of  recovering  his 
men.  A  large  party  appearing  on  the  top  of  a  hill, 
signs  were  made  of  a  desire  for  a  fiiendly  intervie\v. 
A  few  of  ihem  advanced,  and  were  introduced  to  the 
captives.  The  jmrties  wei'o  deeply  affected,  and  spent 
some  time  without  uttering  a  word ;  tears  then  flowed  ; 
and  when  they  at  last  found  speech,  it  was  in  tones 
of  tenderness  an(^.  regret,  which  prepossessed  the 
English  much  in  their  fa\H)r.  Frobisher  now  came 
forward,  and  propounded  that  on  condition  of  restor- 


66 


TREACHERY   OF  TirE   NATIVES. 


ing  his  five  men,  they  should  receive  back  their  own 
captives,  with  the  addition  of  sundry  of  those  little 
gifts  and  presents  on  which  they  set  the  highest  value. 
This  they  j)roraised,  and  also  to  convey  a  letter  to  the 
prisoners,  who  doubtless  at  this  time  were  not  alive. 

Afterward  three  men  appeared  holding  up  flags  of 
bladder,  inviting  the  invaders  to  approach ;  buf:  the 
latter,  who  saw  the  heads  of  othei-s  peeping  from  be- 
hind the  ^ocks,  resolved  to  proceed  \vith  the  utmost 
caution.  The  natives  began  by  placing  in  view  large 
pieces  of  excellent  meat ;  and  when  their  enemy  could 
not  be  caught  by  that  bait,  a  man  advanced  very  close, 
feigning  lameness,  and  seeming  to  offer  himself  an 
easy  prey.  Frobisher  allowed  a  shot  to  be  fired,  by 
which  the  person  was  cured  at  once,  and  took  to  his 
heels.  Seeing  all  their  artifices  fail,  the  barbaiians 
determined  upon  main  force,  and  pouring  doAvn  to 
the  number  of  a  hundred,  discharged  their  arrows 
with  great  rapidity.  They  even  followed  a  consider- 
able way  along  the  coast,  regardless  of  the  English 
shot ;  but  the  boats  were  too  distant  from  tlie  shore 
to  suffer  the  slightest  annojance.  Several  of  the  sea- 
men imi)ortuned  Frobisher  to  allow  them  to  land  and 
attack;  Init  this  he  refused,  as  only  calculated  to 
divert  them  from  the  main  object,  and  to  cause  useless 
bloodshed.  * 

The  21st  of  August  had  now  arrived,  the  ice  was 
beginning  to  fonn  around  the  ships,  and,  though  little 
progretis  had  been  made  towards  China,  the  seamen 
had  put  on  board  two  hundred  tons  of  the  precious 
ore.  Tliey  therefore  moiuited  the  highest  hill,  fired  a 
volley  in  honor  of  the  Countess  of  Wanvick,  and 
made  their  way  home. 

NotAvithstanding  the  vicissitudes  which  had  marked 


%. 


frobisher's  third  expedition. 


6t 


tliis  voyage,  its  arrival  was  hailed  ^yith  the  utmost 
exultation.  Enthusiasm  and  hope,  Loth  with  the 
queen  and  the  nation,  rose  higher  than  ever.  The 
delusion  of  the  golden  ore  continued  in  full  force,  and 
caused  those  desolate  shores  to  be  regarded  as  another 
Peru.  Special  commissioners,  men  of  judgment,  art, 
and  skill,  were  named  by  her  majesty  to  ascertain 
both  the  quality  of  the  ore  and  the  prospects  of  the 
voyage  to  India.  After  due  inquiry,  a  most  favorable 
rei)ort  ^va^  iiiade  on  both  subjects,  and  it  ^as  recom- 
mended not  only  that  a  new  expedition  on  a  great 
scale  should  be  fitted  out,  but  a  colony  established  on 
that  remote  coast,  who  might  at  once  be  placed  in  full 
possession  of  its  treasures,  and  be  on  the  watch  for 
every  opportunity  of  farther  discovery. 

To  brave  the  winter  of  the  Polar  world  was  a  novel 
and  daring  enterjtrise  ;  yet  such  was  then  the  national 
sj)irit,  that  the  appointed  number  of  a  hundred  was 
quickly  filled  up.  There  were  foi-ty  marinei's,  thirty 
miners,  and  thirty  soldiei-s,  in  which  last  number  were 
oddly  included,  not  only  gentlemen,  but  gold-find's, 
bakers,  and  carpentei's.  Materials  wer»^  sent  on  board 
the  vessels,  which,  on  being  put  togeth  tr,  might  be 
converted  into  a  fort  or  house.  The  squadron  fitted 
out  was  the  largest  that  had  yet  adventured  to  plough 
the  northern  deep.  It  ct)nsisted  of  fifteen  vessels, 
furnished  by  various  ports,  especially  by  those  of  the 
west,  and  the  rendezvous  took  place  at  Harwich  on 
the  27th  May.  1578,  whence  they  sailed  on  the  Blst. 
The  captains  waited  on  the  queen  at  GreenAvich,  and 
were  personally  addressed  by  her  in  the  most  gracious 
manner ;  Frobisher  receiving  a  chain  of  gold,  and  the 
honor  of  kissing  her  majesty's  hand. 

It  IS  no^  jrious  that  expeditions  got  up  on  the  great- 


68 


THE   FLEET   IN    A   STOIiM. 


est  scale,  and  Avitli  tlie  most  ample  means,  usually 
prove  tlie  most  uiifoi-tunate.  On  reaching  the  open, 
ing  of  Froblsher's  Strait,  the  navigators  found  it 
frozen  over  from  side  to  side,  and  barred,  as  it  were, 
with  successive  walls,  mountains,  and  huhNarks.  A 
strong  easterly  Avind  had  driven  niunerous  icebergs 
upon  the  coast,  and  hence  the  navigation  amid  these 
huge  moving  bodies  soon  became  most  perilous.  The 
Dennis,  a  large  vessel,  on  board  of  Avhich  "was  part  of 
the  projected  house,  received  such  a  tremendous  blow 
from  a  mountain  « 'f  ice,  that  it  went  down  instantly, 
though  the  other  ships,  liastening  to  its  aid,  succeeded 
in  saving  the  men.  This  s])ectacle  struck  panic  into 
the  other  creAvs,  -who  felt  that  the  same  fate  might 
next  moment  be  their  own. 

The  danijer  was  much  aujmiented  when  the  eu'ie 
increased  to  a  tempest,  and  the  icy  masses,  tossing  in 
every  direction,  struck  the  vessels  furiously.  In- 
vention was  now  variously  at  work  to  find  means 
of  safety.  Some  moored  themselves  to  these  floating 
islands,  and  being  carried  al)out  along  wiHi  tliem, 
escaped  tlie  outrageous  blows  which  they  must  other- 
wise have  enc(mntered.  Others  lield  suspended  by 
the  side£!  of  the  ship  oars,  planks,  pikes,  poles,  eveiy- 
thing  by  which  the  violence  of  the  shocks  might  be 
broken ;  yet  the  ice,  "  aided  by  the  surging  of  the  sea 
and  billow,"  was  seen  to  break  in  pieces  planks  three 
inches  thick.  Frobisher  considers  it  as  redounding 
highly  to  the  glory  of  his  poor  miners  and  landsmen, 
wholly  unused  to  such  a  scene,  that  the}-  faced  with 
heroism  the  nssendded  dangers  that  besieged  them 
rouAd.  "  At  length,  it  pleased  God  with  his  eyes  of 
mercy  to  look  down  from  heaven," — a  brisk  south- 
west wind  dispersed  the  ice,  and  gave  them  an  open 
sea  through  which  to  navigate. 


:i 


THE  EXPEDITION   ASTRAY. 


69 


After  a  few  days  spent  in  repairing  the  vessels,  and 
stopping  lip  the  leaks,  Frobisher  bent  afresh  all  his 
efforts  to  penetrate  inward  to  the  spot  where  he  was 
to  found  his  colony.  After  consideraT>le  effort,  he 
made  his  way  into  a  strait,  when  he  discovered  that 
he  was  sailing  between  two  coasts;  but  amid  the 
gloomy  mists,  and  the  thick  snow  which  fell  in  this 
northern  midsummer,  nothing  could  be  distinctly 
seen.  As,  however,  clear  inten-^als  occasionally  oc- 
curred, affording  partial  glimpses  of  the  land,  the 
surmise  arose  that  this  was  not  the  shore  along  which 
they  had  formerly  sailed.  Frobisher  would  not  listen 
to  a  suggestion  which  would  have  convicted  him  of 
having  thrown  a^vay  much  of  his  time  and  labor. 
He  still  pressed  onward.  Once  the  mariners  imagined 
thej'^  saw  Mount  Warwick,  but  were  soon  undeceived. 
At  length,  the  chief  pilot  stood  up  and  declared,  in 
hearing  of  all  the  crew,  that  he  never  saw  this  coast 
before. 

Frobisher  still  pei-severed,  sailing  along  a  country 
more  populous,  more  A'erdant,  and  better  stocked  Avith 
]  '  ^s,  than  the  one  formerly  visited.  In  fact,  this 
was  probably  the  main  entrance  into  Hudson's  Bay, 
by  continuing  in  which  he  would  have  made  the  most 
impoiiant  discoveries.  But  all  his  ideas  of  mineral 
Avealtli  and  successful  passage  were  associated  with 
the  old  strait ;  and,  on  being  obliged  to  own  that  this 
was  a  different  one,  he  turned  back  to  the  open  sea. 
In  this  retreat  the  fleet  was  so  involved  in  fogs  and 
violent  currents,  and  so  beset  with  rocks  and  islands, 
that  the  sailoi-s  considered  it  only  by  a  special  inter- 
position of  Providence  that  they  Avere  brought  out  in 
safet}'. 
'  When  they  had  reached  the  open  sea,  and  arrived 
5 


to 


THE   COLONY   PROJECT   ABANDONED. 


at  tlie  mouth  of  the  desired  strait,  it  was  almost  as 
difficult  to  find  an  entrance.  However,  Frohisher 
was  constantly  on  the  watch,  and  wherever  there 
appeared  any  opening,  it  is  said  "  he  got  in  at  one  gap 
and  out  at  another,"  till  at  length  he  readied  his  pur- 
posed haven.  Before,  however,  the  crews  were  com* 
pletely  landed  and  established,  the  9th  of  August 
had  come,  thick  snoAvs  were  falling,  and  it  behooved 
them  to  hold  a  solemn  consultation  as  to  the  pros- 
l?ects  of  the  projected  colony.  There  remained  of 
the  house  only  the  materials  of  the  south  and  east 
sides,  a  great  part  of  the  bread  had  been  spoiled,  and 
there  was  no  adequate  provision  for  a  hundred  men 
during  a  whole  year. 

Renouncing  the  idea  of  settlement,  Frobisher  still 
asked  his  captains  whether  they  might  not,  during 
the  short  remaining  inter%'al,  attempt  some  discoveiy 
to  throw  a  redeeming  lustre  on  this  luckless  voyage ; 
but,  in  reply,  they  urged  the  advanced  season,  the 
symptoms  of  Avinter  already  approaching,  and  the 
danger  of  being  enclosed  in  these  nan-ow  inlets, 
where  they  would  be  in  the  most  imminent  danger  of 
perishing ; — in  short,  that  nothing  Mas  now  to  be 
thought  of  but  a  speedy  return  homeward.  This 
was  effected,  not  ^v-ithout  the  dispersion  of  the  fleet, 
and  considerable  damage  to  some  of  the  vessels. 

The  failure  of  successive  attempts,  and  esi)ecially 
of  t)iie  got  up  with  so  much  cost,  produced  its  natu- 
ral effect  in  England.  Tlie  glittering  stone,  which 
was  to  have  conveited  this  northern  Meta  into  anoth- 
er Peru,  was  never  more  heard  of ;  a  few  careful 
assays  having  established  its  utter  insignificance. 
Frobisher  strongly  advocated  another  voyage  to  the 
North-west,  but  Avithout  success,  and  was  obliged  to 


SUBSEQUENT   LIFE   OF   FKOBISKER. 


71 


seek  in  other  climates  employment  for  his  daring  and 
active  spirit.  He  accompanied  Sir  Francis  Drake  to 
the  West  Indies,  and  commanded  one  of  the  largest 
ships  in  the  armament  which  opposed  the  Spanish 
armada,  fighting  with  such  bravery,  that  he  was 
decorated  with  the  honors  of  knis^hthood.  Beincr 
aftenvard  sent  to  assist  Henry  IV.  against  the  League, 
and  employed  in  the  attack  of  a  small  fort  on  the 
coast  of  France,  he  received  a  wound  which  proved 
fatal  in  November,  1594. 

The  "  Meta  Incognita  "  or  "  unknown  land  "  discov- 
ered by  Frobisher,  lies  between  Hudson's  Strait  and 
Frobisher's  Strait.  Capt.  Hall  passed  the  period  of 
his  first  visit  to  the  north  in  this  vicinity,  and  found 
many  relics,  as  he  supposes,  of  the  Frobisher  expedi- 
tion. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  man  of  high  character 
both  as  a  soldier  and  civilian,  hatl  been  much  inter- 
ested in  the  voyages  of  his  countrymen,  and  in  1578 
he  obtained  from  Elizabeth  a  patent  confemng  sole 
jurisdiction  over  a  large  territory  in  America,  on  con- 
dition that  he  should  plant  a  colony  there  within  six 
years.  His  half-brother,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  also 
engaged  in  the  enterprise. 

In  1583,  Sir  Humphrey  set  out  with  a  fleet  of  five 
vessels,  but  one  of  them  put  back  on  account  of  sick- 
ness. On  reaching  St.  John's  harbor,  New  Found- 
land,  Sir  Humphrey  simamoned  some  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  fishermen  there,  to  witness  the  ceremony 
of  taking  possession  in  the  name  of  the  English  sov- 
ereign, an  operation  which  he  performed  by  digging 
a  turf,  and  setting  up  a  pillar  to  which  the  arms  of 
England  were  affixed.  Silver  ore,  as  they  supposed, 
was  discovered  and  taken  on  board  the  vessels,  one 


III 


72 


LOSS   OF  TIIB 


"  SQUIBEEL." 


of  which  was  abandoned,  while  with  the  remainder 
Sir  Humphrey  pursued  his  voyage  along  the  coast 
towards  the  south.  On  his  way,  tlie  largest  remain- 
ing ship  with  its  ore  was  Avrecked,  and  a  hu? -^red 
souls  perished. 

Retiirn  was  now  considered  necessarj',  and  iU  the 
midst  of  terrible  storms  and  tempests,  the  prows 
were  turned  homeward.  Sir  Humphrey  had  chosen 
to  sail  in  a  little  tender,  called  the  Squiirel,  and  when 
the  stoiTu  came  on  he  was  urged  to  shift  his  flag  to 
a  larger  vessel.     But  he  refused  to  do  so,  saying : 

"  I  will  not  desert  my  little  company,  with  whom 
I  have  passed  so  many  storms  and  penis." 

The  gale  increased;  lights  were  burned  at  night, 
and  the  little  Squirrel,  for  a  long  time,  was  seen  gal- 
lantly contending  with  the  waves.  Once  she  came 
80  near  another  ship  that  its  officei's  could  see  Sir 
Humphrey  sitting  by  the  mainmast,  with  a  book  in 
his  hand,  reading.  He  looked  up,  and  cried  cheerily, 
"We  are  as  near  to  Heaven  by  sea  as  by  land." 
About  midnight,  all  at  once,  the  lights  were  extin- 
guished ;  and  in  the  morning  nothing  was  seen  of  the 
good  Sir  Humphrey  or  his  little  ship. 

In  1585  the  spiiit  of  discovery  was  again  i-oiii-fd. 
Merchants  of  London  fitted  out  two  vessels,  the  Sun- 
shine and  Moonshine,  which  were  placed  under  the 
command  of  John  Davis,  a  determines  seaman,  en- 
dowed with  much  courtesy  and  good  humoV,  by  which 
he  was  likely  to  render  himself  acceptable  to  the  mde 
natives  of  those  inhospitable  shores :  to  promote 
which  laudable  purpose,  he  was  provided  not  only 
with  a  supply  of  the  trifling  gifts  suited  to  their  taste, 
but  with  a  band  of  music  to  cheer  and  recreate  their 
spirits. 


iii-ed. 
Sun- 

r  the 

n,  en- 
liicli 
nide 

umote 

only 

taste, 

their 


J  /*•,  /JT-.  ,.!•■ . 


TUE   "LAKD   op  desolation." 


Davis  sailed  on  the  7tli  of  June,  1585.  On  the  19th 
of  July,  as  the  seamen  approached  the  Arctic  boundary, 
they  heard,  amid  a  calm  sea  beset  with  thick  mist,  a 
mighty  roaring,  as  of  the  waves  dashing  on  a  rocky 
shore.  The  captain  and  master  pushed  off  in  the 
boat  to  examine  this  supposed  beach,  l)ut  Avere  much 
Burjjrised  to  find  themselves  involved  amid  numerous 
icebergs,  while  all  this  noise  had  Ijeen  caused  by  the 
rolling  and  beating  of  these  masses  against  each  other. 

Next  day  they  came  in  view  of  Greenland,  which 
appeared  the  inost  dreary  and  desolate  ever  seen; 
"  deformed,  rocky,  and  mountainous,  like  a  sugar-loaf, 
standing  to  our  sight  above  the  clouds.  It  towered 
above  the  fog  like  a  white  list  in  the  sky,  the  tops 
altogether  covered  with  snow,  the  shore  beset  with 
ice,  making  such  irksome  noise  that  it  was  called  the 
Land  of  Desolation.^^ 

After  sailing  for  several  days  along  this  dreary 
shore,  Davis  pushed  out  north-westward  into  the  open 
sea,  hoping  in  "  God's  mercy  to  find  our  desired  pas- 
sage." On  the  29th  he  came  in  view  of  a  land  in  64** 
north  latitude,  which  was  still  only  Greenland ;  but 
as  the  wind  wjis  unfavorable  for  proceeding  westward, 
the  air  temi)erate,  and  the  coast  fi'ee  from  ice,  he  re- 
solved to  go  on  shore  and  take  a  view  of  the  country 
and  people.  In  the  company  of  two  othera,  he  landed 
on  an  island,  leaving  directions  for  the  rest  to  follow 
as  soon  as  they  should  hear  any  loud  signal.  The 
party  mounted  the  top  of  a  rock,  whence  they  were 
espied  by  the  natives,  who  raised  a  lamentable  noise, 
witli  loud  outcries  like  the  howlinij:  of  wolves.  Davis 
and  his  comrades  hereupon  struck  up  a  high  note,  so 
modulated,  that  it  might  at  once  be  alluring  to  the 
natives,  and  might  summon  his  own  crew  to  deeds 


t6 


A   QKEENLAND    DANCK. 


•    1! 


either  of  courteay  or  valor.  Bui-ton,  the  muster,  and 
others,  hastened,  well  armed,  yet  with  the  bund  of 
music  jilaying,  and  dancing  to  it  with  the  most  invit- 
ing signs  of  friendship. 

In  accordunce  with  this  gay  simimons,  ten  canoes 
hastened  from  the  other  islands,  and  the  i)e()ple 
crowded  round  the  strangers,  utteiing  in  a  hollow 
voice  unintelligible  sounds.  The  English  continued 
their  friendly  salutations,  while  the  other  pai-ty  still 
showed  jealousy,  till  at  length  one  of  them  began 
jiointing  towards  the  sun  and  beating  his  breast. 
These  signs  being  returned  by  John  Ellis,  master  of 
the  Moonshine,  the  natives  were  induced  to  aj^proach ; 
and  being  presented  with  caps,  stockings,  gloves,  etc., 
and  continuing  to  be  hailed  with  music  and  dancing, 
their  fears  gave  place  to  the  most  cordial  amity. 

Next  day  there  appeared  thii-ty-seven  canoes,  the 
people  from  which  kindly  invited  the  English  on 
shore,  showing  eager  impatience  at  their  delay.  Da. 
vis  manned  his  boats  and  went  to  them  ;  one  of  them 
shook  hands  with  him,  and  kissed  his  hand,  and  the 
two  pai-ties  became  extremely  familiar.  The  natives 
parted  with  every  thing,  the  clothes  from  off  their 
backs,  their  buskins  of  well-dressed  leather,  their 
darts,  oars,  and  five  canoes,  accepting  cheeiiully  in 
return  whatever  their  new  visitors  chose  to  present. 

Davis  next  steered  directly  across  the  strait,  or 
ra+her  sea,  which  still  bears  his  own  name.  On  the  6th 
of  August  he  discovered  high  land,  which  he  named 
Mount  Ealeigh,  being  part  of  Cumberland  Island. 
Here,  anchoring  in  a  fine  road,  the  seamen  saw  three 
white  animals,  which  seemed  to  be  goats.  Desirous 
of  fresh  victuals  and  sport,  they  pursued  them,  but 
discovered  instead  three  monstrous  white  bears.         : 


VOYAGE   WITU   THE   MKUMAID. 


77 


Davis,  after  coaHting  al>out  for  sonio  days,  again 
found  hininelf  at  the  cajie  Avliicli  Ik;  liml  at  liist  reach- 
ed on  Ills  f.roHsing  fioni  the  opiMwite  nhore  of  (ri'een- 
land.  Tills  promontory,  whicli  lie  called  (Jod's  Mercy, 
he  now  turixed,  when  he  found  himself  in  ji  sound 
stretching  north-westward,  twenty  or  thirty  It^agues 
broad.  After  ascending  it  si.xty  leagues,  he  found  an 
island  in  the  mid-channel.  Alxmt  the  end  of  August, 
however,  l>eing  involved  in  fogs  and  contraiy  \vind8, 
he  del  tinined  to  su8j)end  operations  for  the  season 
and  return  to  England. 

On  one  of  tlie  islands  in  this  sound  tlui  seamen 
heard  dogs  howling,  and  saw  twenty  api)roach,  of 
wolf-like  ap])earance,  but  in  most  j)eaceful  guise.  Im- 
press'nl,  however,  with  the  idea  that  oidy  animals  of 
prey  could  be  found  on  these  slun-es,  they  tiled  and 
killed  two,  round  one  of'  whose  necks  they  found  a 
collar,  and  soon  after  discovered  the  sledge  to  which 
he  had  been  yoked. 

Davis  sailed  on  a  second  expedition  on  the  7tli  of 
May  "158(5  with  his  two  fonner  vessels,  and  another 
one  called  the  M-  nnaid.  On  the  29th  of  June  he 
I'eached  the  scene  of  his  former  visit  in  Gi'oenland. 
The  natives  came  out  in  their  canoes  at  first  with 
shouts  and  cries;  but,  recognizing  their  companions 
of  the  former  year,  they  hastened  forwai'd,  and  hung 
round  the  vessel  with  every  expression  of  joy  and 
welcome. 

Davis,  seeing  them  in  such  favorable  disposi- 
tions, went  a.shore  and  distnbuted  jviesents.  The 
most  intimate  acquaintance  was  now  begun ;  yet 
tliey  never  met  the  strangers  anew  without  crying, 
*'Ili<ntiitP^  beating  their  breasts  and  lifting  their 
hands  to  the  sun,  by  which  a  fresh  treaty  was  ratified. 


78 


ESQUIMAUX    INCANTATIONS. 


I 


I 


ii 


' 


I 


The  two  parties  amused  themselves  by  contests  in 
bodily  exercises.  The  Esquimaux  could  not  match 
their  opponents  in  leaping;  but  in  wrestling  they 
showed  themselves  strong  and  skillful,  and  threw 
some  of  the  best  English  wrestlers.  By  degrees  they 
began  to  manifest  less  laudable  qualities.  Tljey  exer- 
cised many  and  solemn  incantations,  though,  Davis 
thanks  God,  without  any  effect.  They  kindled  a  fire 
by  i-ubbing  two  sticks  against  each  other,  and  invited 
him  to  pass  through  it ;  but  he,  in  contempt  of  their 
sorcery,  caused  the  fire  to  be  trodden  out  and  the 
embers  thrown  into  the  sea. 

The  natives,  however,  soon  began  to  show  less 
amiable  traits,  and  finally  reached  the  highest  pitch  of 
audacity.  They  stole  a  spear,  a  gun,  a  sword,  cut  the 
cables  and  even  the  Moonshine's  boat  from  her  stern. 
The  leading  personages  of  the  crew  remonstrated  with 
Davis,  that  for  their  security  he  must  "  dissolve  this 
new  fi-ienddhlp,  and  leave  the  company  of  the  thiev- 
ish miscreants."  Davis  fired  two  pieces  over  their 
heads,  which  "did  sore  amaze  them,"  and  they  fled 
precipitately  ;  but  in  ten  hours  they  again  appeared 
with  many  promises  and  presents  of  skins ;  when,  ou 
seeing  iron,  "  they  could  in  nowise  forbear  stealing." 
The  conmiander  was  again  besieged  with  the  com- 
plaints of  his  crew ;  however,  "  it  only  ministered  to 
him  an  occasion  of  laughter,"  and  he  told  his  men  to 
look  out  for  their  goods,  and  not  to  deal  hardly  -with 
the  natives,  who  could  scarcely  be  expected  in  so 
short  a  time  "  to  know  their  evils." 

Davis  now  undertook  an  expedition  into  the  inte- 
rior, lie  sailed  up  what  appeared  a  broad  river,  but 
Avhich  proved  only  a  strait  or  creek.  A  violent  gust 
of  wind  having  obliged  him  to  seek  the  shelter  of 


'  i:; 


I 


AN    EXPEDITION   TO   THE   IJSTEUIOK. 


79 


inte- 
r,  but 

gust 
ter  of 


land,  lie  attempted  to  ascend  a  very  lofty  peak ;  but 
"the  mountains  were  so  many  and  so  mighty^  that 
his  purpose  prevailed  not."  AVhile  the  men  were 
gathering  muscles  for  supper,  he  was  amused  ])y  view- 
ing for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  a  water-spout,  which 
he  describes  as  a  mighty  whirlwind  taking  up  the 
water  and  whirling  it  round  for  three  hours  without 
intermission. 

During  the  captain's  absence  matters  had  become 
worse  with  the  Esquimaux ;  they  had  stolen  an  an- 
chor, cut  the  cabLi,  and  even  thrown  stones  of  half  a 
pound  weight  against  the  Moonshine.  Davis  invited 
a  party  of  them  on  board,  made  them  various  littlef 
presents,  taught  them  to  run  to  the  topmaat,  and  dis- 
missed them  apparently  quite  pleased.  Yet  no  sooner 
had  t]'e  sun  set  than  they  began  to  "practise  their 
devilish  nature,'"  and  threw  stones  into  the  Moonshine, 
one  of  which  knocked  down  the  boatswain.  Tli') 
captain's  meek  spirit  was  at  length  kindled  to  wrath, 
and  he  gave  fiiU  warrant  for  t^vo  boats  to  chase  the 
culprits ;  but  they  rowed  so  swiftly  that  the  pursuers 
returned  with  small  content. 

Two  'lays  after,  five  natives  j^'esented  themselves 
with  overturt>s  for  a  fresh  truce  ;  but  the  master  came 
to  Davis,  remonstrating  that  one  of  them  Avas  "  the 
chief  ringleader,  a  master  of  mischief,"  and  was  \Aie- 
ment  not  to  let  him  go.  He  was  made  captive,  and, 
a  fair  wind  suddenly  spiinging  nj),  the  English  set 
sail,  and  carried  him  away,  many  doleful  signs  being 
then  exchanged  between  him  and  one  of  his  countiy- 
men ;  hoAvever,  on  being  well  treated,  and  presented 
with  a  new  suit  of  frieze,  his  spirits  revived,  he  be- 
came a  i)lea.sant  companion,  and  used  occasionally  to 
assist  the  sailora. 


i 


( 


n 


i 


80 


DAVIS   WARNED   BT  HIS   SAILORS. 


On  the  l7th  of  July  the  mariners  descried  a  land 
diversified  with  hills,  bays,  and  capes,  and  extending 
farther  than  the  eye  could  reach ;  but  a\  luit  was  their 
horror  on  approaching,  to  find  that  it  Avas  only  "  a 
most  mighty  and  strange  quantity  of  ice !"  It  was, 
in  fact,  that  great  barrier  known  as  the  Middle  Pack. 

As  they  coasted  along  this  mighty  field,  a  fog  came 
on,  by  which  the  ropes,  shrouds,  and  sails  were  all 
fast  frozen, — a  phenomenon  that,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
appeared  more  than  strange.  Dismayed  by  these  ob- 
servations, the  seamen  considered  the  passage  hope- 
less, and,  in  a  respectful  yet  firm  tone,  Avarned  Davis, 
that  by  "  his  ovei'-boldness  he  might  cause,  their 
■widoA/s  and  fatherless  children  to  gi\-e  him  bitter 
curses." 

Davis  was  willing  to  consider  their  case ;  yet, 
anxious  not  to  abandon  so  great  an  enterprise,  he  de- 
termined to  leave  behind  him  the  IMermaid,  and  to 
push  on  in  the  Moonshine  with  the  boldest  part  of  his 
crew.  Having  found  a  favorable  breeze,  he  at  last, 
on  the  1  st  of  August,  turned  the  ice,  and  in  lat.  GO" 
33'  reached  land  ;  along  which  he  now  coasted  south- 
ward for  about  ten  desrrees,  entancjled  amonsr  a  num- 
ber  of  islands,  and  missing,  in  his  progress,  the  inlets 
to  Hudson's  Bay.  On  the  coast  of  Labrador,  five 
men  who  landed  were  beset  by  the  natives,  and  two 
of  them  killed  and  two  wounded.  Davis  then  re- 
turned to  England.  .    • 

Through  the  influence  of  his  friend  IMr.  Sanderson, 
Davis  sailed  on  a  third  expedition  with  tlie  Sunshine, 
the  Elizabeth,  and  a  pinnace,  and  on  the  1  (Uli  of  June, 
1587,  ari'ived  among  his  old  friends  on  the  coast  of 
Greenland.  The  natives  received  him  as  before  with 
the  cry  of  iliaout  and  the  exhibition  of  skins,  but  lost 


3 


IB;    1    '  . 


|i 


TBI  LAKO  OS  D£S0I.AT10I(. 


VREIOaTED  ICEDERO. 


DESERTION   OP   TWO   SHIPS. 


83 


no  time  in  the  renewal  of  tlieir  former  system  of 
thieving. 

It  was  now  arranged  that  the  two  large  vessels 
should  remain  to  fish,  while  Davis  in  the  pin- 
nace should  stretch  out  into  a  hi  Ixdr  latitude  with  a 
view  to  discovery.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  lie 
took  his  depai-ture,  and,  continuing  to  range  the 
coast  to  the  northward,  on  the  28th  he  reached  a  point 
which  he  named  Sanderson's  Hope,  in  upwards  of 
72^,  still  finding  a  wide  open  sea  to  the  west  and 
north.  Here,  the  wind  having  shifted,  Davis  resolv- 
ed to  hold  on  a  western  tack  across  this  sea,  and 
proceeded  for  forty  leagues  without  sight  of  land  or 
any  other  obstruction,  when  he  was  arrested  by  the 
usual  barrier  of  an  immense  bank  of  ice.  Tempted 
by  an  apparent  opening,  Davis  involved  himself  in  a 
bay  of  ice,  and  was  obliged  to  wait  the  moment 
when  the  sea  beating  and  the  sun  shining  on  this 
mighty  mass  should  eifect  its  dissolution. 

At  length,  on  the  lOtli  of  July,  he  came  in  view 
of  Mount  Raleigh,  and  at  midnight  found  himself 
at  the  mouth  of  the  inlet  discovered  in  the  fii'st  voy- 
age,  and  Avhich  has  since  been  called  Cumberland 
Strait.  Next  day  he  sailed  across  its  entrance,  and 
in  the  two  following  days  ascended  its  northern  shore, 
till  he  was  again  involved  among  numei'ous  islands. 
lie  now  concluded  this  strait  to  be  an  enclosed  gulf, 
and  retreated  along  the  southern  shore.  He  now 
crossed  the  mouth  of  an  extensive  gulf,'  in  one  part  of 
which  his  vessel  Avas  carried  along  by  a  violent  cur- 
rent, while  in  another  the  water  was  whirling  and 
roaring  us  is  usual  at  the  meeting  of  tides.  This  Avas 
evidently  the  grand  entrance  to  Hudson's  Bay. 

Davis  now  hastened  to  the  point  of  rendezvous 


,  I! 


•I  \\\ 


I:! 


I 


«4 


suBssQuiurr  oaileeb  of  DAvia 


fixed  with  the  two  other  vessels ;  but,  to  his  deep  dis- 
appointment and  just  indignation,  he  found  that  they 
had  departed.  It  was  not  without  hesitation  that, 
with  his  small  stock  of  provisions  he  ventured  to  saU 
for  England ;  but  he  arrived  safely. 

Davis  bad  succeeded  in  reaching  a  much  higher  lati- 
tude than  any  former  navigator,  and,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  banner  of  ice  on  one  side,  had  found  the 
sea  open,  blue,  of  vast  extent,  and  unfathomable 
depth.  He  considered,  therefore,  that  the  success  of 
a  spirited  attempt  was  almost  infallible.  But  three 
failures  had  exhausted  all  interest  in  the  subject,  and 
the  invasion  by  the  Spanish  Armada  which  soon 
followed,  engaged  for  a  season  all  the  energies  of  the 
nation. 

Davis  tried  in  vain  to  procure  means  for  another 
Arctic  Expedition.  He  subsequently  made  several 
voyages  to  the  East  Indies,  in  the  service  of  the 
Dutch,  and  was  killed  during  a  fight  with  Japanese 
pirates  on  the  coast  of  Malacca  in  1605. 


l!  m 


I 
I  i 


•';r.U 


CHAPTER  VI.  t 

ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  WEYMOUTH,  KNIGHT, 
AND  HUDSON. 

In  1602,  the  Muscovy  Company  and  the  Levant 
Company  united  in  new  efforts  for  a  North-west  route, 
and  sent  out  George  Weymouth  with  two  vessels,  the 
Discovery  and  Goodspeed,  which  sailed  on  the  2d 
of  May. 

On  the  28tli  of  June,  Weymouth  came  in  view  of  a 
snow-clad  promontory  on  the  American  coast.  The 
vessels  were  tossed  to  and  fro  by  violent  currents  and 
involved  in  thick  fogs,  and  they  came  quite  near  to 
an  iceberg  on  which  some  of  the  crew  landed.  Hear- 
ing a  great  sound  like  the  dashing  of  waves  on  the 
shore,  they  approached  it,  and  were  dismayed  to  find 
it  "  the  noise  of  a  great  quantity  of  ice,  Avhich  was 
very  loathsome  to  be  heard."  The  mist  became  so 
thick,  that  they  could  not  see  two  ships'  length,  and 
on  attempting  to  take  down  the  sails,  they  were  aston- 
ished to  find  them  so  fast  frozen  to  the  risrijinj;  that 
in  "this  chiefest  time  of  summer  they  could  not  be 
moved."  Next  day  they  renewed  the  attempt ;  but  it 
was  only  by  cutting  away  the  ice  from  the  ropes  that 
they  could  be  made  to  move  through  the  blocks. 
The  following  day  the  fog  lay  so  thick  and  froze  so 

85 


'11 

1    I 


r 


ri 


!■: 


86 


A  COWAKDLY   CREW. 


,  i 


fast,  tliat  ropes,  saili=<,  and  rigging  remained  immovaljle. 

These  phenomena  produced  a  disastrous  efreet  on 
the  minds  of  the  sailors,  who  began  to  hohl  secret 
conferences,  ending  in  a  conspiracy  "  to  bear  uj)  the 
hehn  for  England."  It  was  ])roposed  to  seize  Wey- 
mouth, and  confine  him  in  his  cabin  till  he  gave  his 
consent ;  but  the  captain,  receiving  notice  of  this  ne- 
farious design,  called  the  seamen  before  him,  and  in 
presence  of  Mr.  Cartwright  the  preacher,  and  ]\Ir. 
Cobreth  the  master,  called  upon  them  to  answer  for 
thus  attempting  to  overthrow  a  voyage  fitted  out  at 
such  ample  cost  by  the  honorable  merchants. 

The  men  stood  finu,  and  produced  a  pai)er  signed 
by  themselves,  in  which  they  justified  the  proposed 
step  as  founded  on  solid  reason,  without  any  tincture 
of  fear  or  cowardice.  They  represented,  that  if  they 
should  suffer  themselves  to  be  enclosed  in  an  un- 
known sea,  by  this  dreadful  and  premature  winter, 
they  would  not  only  be  in  imminent  danger  of  perish- 
ing, but  could  not  hope  to  commence  their  can.'er  of 
discovery  next  year  sooner  than  IMay  ;  while  by  setting 
sail  in  due  time  from  England  they  might  easily 
reach  this  coast  in  that  month.  Weymouth  retired 
to  his  cabin  to  deliberate,  when  he  heard  it  announced 
that  the  helm  was  actually  borne  up.  Hastening  on 
deck,  and  asking  who  had  done  this,  he  \vas  ans^verell, 
"  One  and  all ; "  and  he  found  the  combination  such 
as  it  was  impossible  to  resist,  though  he  took  occasion 
afterward  to  chastise  the  ringleaders.  The  men,  how- 
ever, declai'ed  themselves  ready  to  hazard  their  lives 
in  any  discovery  which  might  be  attempted  to  the 
southward. 

Descending  the  coast,  Weymouth  found  himself  at 
the  entrance  of  an  inlet,  into  which  he  sailed  in  a 


FATE   OP   CAPTAIN   KNIGIIT. 


87 


soutli-west  direction,  a  hundred  leagues ;  but  encount- 
ering fogs  and  heavy  gales,  and  finding  the  season  far 
spent,  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  regain  the  open  sea. 
This  inlet  -was  in  fact  the  grand  entrance  of  Hudson's 
Bay. 

In  55°  "Weymouth  found  a  fair  land,  consisting  of 
islands  and  "  goodly  sounds,"  apparently  tlie  place 
where  the  Moravian  settlement  of  Nain  was  afterward 
formed.  Soon  after,  a  dreadful  hurricane  from  the 
west  seemed  to  take  up  the  sea  into  the  air,  and  drove 
the  ships  before  it  with  the  utmost  impetuosity.  Had 
it  been  from  any  other  quarter  they  must  have  been 
dashed  to  pieces  on  rocks;  however  they  ranged 
through  the  open  sea,  and  in  the  greatest  extremity 
"the  Lord  delivered  us  his  unworthy  servants." 
They  had  now  an  easy  navigation  to  England. 

No  farther  attempts  were  made  till  IGOG,  when 
East  India  merchants  fitted  out  a  vessel  of  forty  tons 
under  John  Knight,  who  had  been  employed  in  the 
Danish  voyages  to  Greenland.  On  the  19th  of  June 
he  had  reached  the  coast  of  Labi-ador,  but  the  vessel 
had  been  so  much  damaged  by  collisions  Anth  ice  that 
it  became  necessaiy  to  repair  it  thorouglily,  and  for 
this  purpose  it  wjis  hauled  ashore  in  a  little  cove. 

On  the  2Gth,  Knight,  with  some  of  his  men  well 
armed,  went  across  to  the  oi)posite  coast  in  a  boat,  to 
take  a  survey  of  the  country.  Here  the  captain  Avdth 
two  of  his  ofiioers,  went  over  a  hill,  leaving  three 
men  in  charge  of  the  boat,  who  Avaited  the  whole  day 
in  anxious  expectation  of  the  retiu-n  of  the  jxarty; 
they  then  sounded  trumpets,  fired  muskets,  and  made 
other  sifjnals  but  -without  effect.  After  waitins^  till 
eleven  at  night,  they  gave  up  hopes,  and  returned  to 
the  ship  with  the  doleful  tidings.     The  crew  were 


H 


W 


II 

-  Ill 

\ 


KlH 


!»   ill 

fiiili 


I 


88 


AK   ESQUIMAUX   ATTACK. 


struck  wltli  the  deepest  dismay  at  having  thus  lost 
their  captain  and  best  oflficers,  and  being  themselves 
left  in  such  deplorable  circumstances.  The  boat  was 
fitted  out  next  morning  for  search,  but  could  not  cross 
the  channel  on  account  of  the  ice. 

On  the  night  of  the  28th,  as  the  boatswain  was  keep 
ing  watch  in  advance  of  the  tents,  he  suddenly  saw 
rushing  through  the  darkness  a  great  body  of  men, 
who,  on  desciying  him,  let  fly  their  arrows.  He  in- 
stantly fired,  and  gave  the  alarm ;  but  before  the  crew 
could  start  from  bed  and  be  mustered,  the  shallop  was 
filled  with  fifty  savages,  who,  with  loud  cries  and  men- 
acing gestures,  showed  themselves  prepared  for  im- 
mediate attack.  The  English  mustered  only  eight 
men  and  a  large  dog,  and  though  the  rain  fell  in  tor- 
rents, they  determined  rather  to  perish  bravely,  assail- 
ing this  savage  enemy,  than  to  wait  their  onset.  They 
advanced,  therefore,  i)lacing  the  dog  foremost.  This 
bold  front  appalled  the  savages,  asIio  leaped  into 
their  boats,  and  made  off  with  all  speed ;  but  they 
were  entangled  in  the  ice,  and  detained  a  considerable 
time,  during  which  the  pursuera  continued  firing,  and 
the  savages  were  heard  "  crying  to  each  other,  very 
sore." 

The  mariners,  placed  in  this  alarming  situation, 
made  all  the  haste  they  could  to  fit  their  shattered 
bark  for  again  taking  the  sea.  They  had  first  to  cut 
a  way  for  her  through  the  ice ;  but  they  had  nothing 
which  could  be  called  a  iiidder,  and  the  leaks  were  so 
large,  that  the  sailors  coidd  scarcely  enjoy  half  an 
hour's  relief  from  the  pump.  At  length  they  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  and 
found,  among  the  fishing  vessels  on  that  station, 
friends  who  supplied  all  their  wants.     Aft#r  twenty 


IIUDS0N8   VOYAGE   TOWAKD   THE   POLE. 


89 


(lays  spent  in  repairing  their  sLip  they  sailed  for 
home. 

Captain  Henry  Hudson,  a  Londoner,  of  whose 
early  life  veiy  little  is  known,  was  employed,  as  he 
says,  "l»y  certaine  worshipfull  merchants  of  Ijondon, 
for  to  discover  a  passage  ])y  the  North  Pole,  to  Japan 
and  Cliina."  With  only  ten  men  and  his  little  son, 
lie  sailed  in  a  small  vessel  on  the  first  of  May,  1G07, 
with  instructions  to  sail,  if  possible,  directly  over  the 
Noi*th  Pole.  This  was  the  first  attempt  to  make  this 
hazardous  ti'ip,  and  the  first  recorded  voyage  of  this 
eminent  navigator. 

On  the  iJJth  of  June,  the  ship  was  involved  in 
thick  fog,  the  shrouds  and  sails  being  frozen;  but 
Avhen  it  cleared  next  morning,  the  sailors  descried  a 
high  and  bold  headland,  on  Greenland  coast,  mostly 
covered  with  snow,  behind  which  rose  a  castellated 
mountain,  named  the  Mount  of  God's  Mercy.  Rain 
now  fell,  and  the  air  felt  temperate  and  agreeable. 
They  steered  eastAvard  to  clear  this  coast ;  l)ut,  after 
being  for  some  time  enveloped  in  fogs,  again  saw  land, 
very  high  and  bold,  and  without  snow  even  on  the 
top  of  the  loftiest  mountains.  To  this  cape,  in  73^*, 
they  gave  the  name  of  IIold-with-ITope. 

Hudson  now  took  a  noi-th-eastward  direction,  and 
on  the  27th,  faintly  perceived,  amid  fogs  and  mist. 
the  coast  of  Spitzbergen,  He  still  pushed  northward, 
till  he  passed  the  79th  degree  of  latitude,  where  he 
found  the  sun  continually  ten  degi'ees  above  the  hori- 
zon, yet  the  weather  piercingly  cold,  and  the  shrouds 
and  sails  often  frozen.  The  ice  obliged  him  to  steer 
in  various  directions ;  but  embracing  every  opportu- 
nity, he  pushed    on,  as  appeared   to   him,  to    81^, 

and   saw  land  still  continuously  stretching  as  far  as 
6 


!;  ■ 


ili 


ll 


4^' 


90 


A   MERMAID    DISCO VJ«:RKD. 


!i 


i: 


I!  i 


■It 


82®.  He  retiimecl,  coasting  along  Spit/hergen,  some 
parts  of  which  appeared  very  agreeable  ;  ami  ou  the 
15th  of  September  arrived  in  the  Thames. 

On  Hudson's  return  from  Spitsbergen,  tlie  London 
merchants  still  hoping  to  find  a  roiite  to  the  Noi-th- 
east,  sent  him  out  on  a  voyage  in  that  direction.  On 
the  3d  of  June,  1G08,  he  passed  the  North  Cape,  and 
pushed  on  to  the  north  and  east  till  he  reached  the 
latitude  of  75",  when  he  found  himself  entangled 
among  ice.  He  at  first  endeavored  to  push  through, 
but  failing  in  this  attempt,  turned  and  extricated 
himself  with  only  "a  few  rubs."  On  the  12th  of 
June  he  experienced  a  thick  fog,  and  had  his  shrouds 
frozen ;  but  the  sky  then  cleared,  and  aifoi'ded  bright 
sunshine  for  the  whole  day  and  night.  On  the  15th, 
Thomas  Hilles  and  Robert  Rayner  solemnly  a\  erred, 
that,  standing  on  deck,  they  had  seen  a  mermaid. 
This  marine  maiden  is  described  as  having  a  female 
back  and  breast,  a  very  white  skin,  and  long  black 
hair  flowing  ])ehind ;  but  on  Lor  turning  round  they 
descried  a  tail  as  of  a  porj[)oi-,e,  and  speckled  like  a 
mackerel. 

Hudson  continued  to  push  on  eastward,  between 
the  latitudes  of  H^  and  75".  On  the  25th,  heavy 
north  and  north-easterly  gales,  accompanied  with  fog 
and  snoAV,  obliged  him  to  steer  south-easterly ;  and 
this  course  brought  him  to  the  coast  of  Nova  Zend:»la. 
Here,  he  concluded  that  it  was  fruitless  to  attempt 
to  hold  a  more  northerly  course  and  resolved  to  try 
the  old  and  so  often  vainly-attempted  route  of  the 
Waygatz. 

From  this  he  was  diverted  by  the  view  of  a  large 
sound,  which  appeared  to  afford  an  equally  2:>romising 
opening.     On   its  shores  also   were  numerous  herds 


Irge 
Irds 


VOYAOK   IN    TinC   IIALF-MOON. 


of  walnis,  from  wliicli  he  Loped  to  defray  the 
expense  of  tlie  voyage.  Nova  Zembla,  on  the  whole, 
seen  under  tliis  Arctic  niidsnninier,  i»resented  to  him 
somewliat  of  a  gay  aspect.  lie  says,  it  is  "to  man's 
eye  a  j^leasant  land ;  much  mayne  land,  -with  no  snow 
on  it,  looking  in  some  places  green,  and  deer  feeding 
thereon."  The  sound,  however,  terminated  in  a  large 
river,  and  the  boats  soon  came  to  anchorage  in  shallo^v 
water.  The  ice  now  came  in  gi'eat  masses  from  the 
Bouth,  "  veiy  fearful  to  look  on  ;"  and  though  "  by  the 
mercy  of  God  and  His  mighty  lielp,"  Hudson  escaped 
the  danger,  yet  by  the  0th  of  July  he  M'as  "void  of 
hope  of  a  noiih-east  passage,"  and,  determining  to  put 
his  employers  to  no  farther  expense,  hastened  home 
to  England.  The  "  worshipful!  merchants,"  discour- 
aged by  these  failures,  refused  to  fit  out  any  more  ex- 
peditions for  him. 

The  bold  Englishman  now  sought  employment 
from  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  and  sailed  from 
the  Texel  under  their  auspices  in  a  little  vessel  called 
the  Half-Moon,  with  a  crew  of  twenty  men,  on  the 
25th  of  March  1009. 

On  the  5th  of  May  he  passed  the  Noi*th  Cape,  and 
on  the  19th  came  in  \new  of  Wardhuys.  Here  he 
turned  his  prow  and  steered  across  the  Atlantic  to 
America.  His  reasons  for  so  doing  are  not  known  ; 
but  it  is  conjectured  that  his  seamen  accustomed  to 
seek  India  by  the  tropical  route,  were  alarmed  by  the 
fogs,  tempests,  and  floating  ice  of  the  north,  and  that 
Hudson  prefeiTed  to  seek  for  a  north-western  route. 

On  the  2d  of  July  Hudson  reached  the  coast  of 
Newfoundland,  and  then  proceeding  south^vard  visit- 
ing several  places  along  the  coast,  he  arrived  in  Au- 
gust off  Chesapeake  Bay,  where  John  Smith  at  that 


i 


'  11 1 


at 
1 

1 

f ! 

'  1 

it  ' 

1 

i'l     lit 


DISCOTEEY   OP  THE  HUDSON   EIVER. 


time  was  engaged  in  founding  the  first  English  settle- 
ment in  America.  Hudson  then  sailed  northward,  and 
came  to  anchor  in  what  is  now  known  as  the  Lower  Bay 
of  New  York  City. 

After  ascending  the  Hudson  River  for  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles,  Hudson  began  to  perceive  that 
the  track  to  India  was  yet  undiscovered  ;  so  he  turned 
his  prow  southward  and  beat  slowly  down  the  stream, 
having  several  fights  with  the  natives  on  the  way. 

On  the  4th  of  October  he  left  New  York  Bay,  and 
proceeded  to  England,  where  he  was  detained  for  a 
while  by  an  order  of  the  English  court,  who  were 
jealous  of  the  enterprise  of  the  Dutch. 

Hudson  sailed  on  his  last  and  lamentable  voyage 
on  the  I7th  of  iipril,  IGIO.  His  one  sliip  was  pro- 
visioned for  six  months,  and  had  been  fitted  out  by 
eminent  Englishmen.  On  the  11th  of  May  he  de- 
scried  the  eastern  part  of  Iceland,  and  ^vas  enveloped 
in  a  thick  south  fog — hearing  the  sea  dashing  against 
the  coast  without  seeing  it.  He  was  thus  obliged  to 
come  to  anchor ;  but,  as  soon  as  the  weather  cleared, 
lie  proceeded  westward  along  the  coast  till  he  reached 
Sno^v  Hill  (Snaefell,)  which  rears  its  aw^ul  head 
above  the  sea  that  leads  to  the  frozen  shores  of  Green- 
land. On  their  way  the  navigators  sa^v  Hecla,  the 
volcano  of  which  was  then  in  acti-\'ity,  vomiting  tor- 
rents of  fire  down  its  sncm'}'  sides,  witli  smoke  ascend- 
ing to  tlie  sky — an  object  not  only  fearful  in  itself, 
l)ut  Avhicli  struck  theiu  with  alarm  as  an  indication  of 
unfavorable  AA'eather. 

Leaving  the  Icelandic  cojist  tliey  now  sailed  west- 
ward, and,  after  being  deceived  by  illusory  appear- 
.ances  of  land,  at  length  saw  the  white  cliffs  of  Green- 
land towering  behind  a  mighty  wall  of  ice.     A\''ithout 


*■■- 


i 


HUDSON  S    LAST    VOYAGE. 


96 


I 


attompting  to  approach  the  coast,  Hudson  sailed  to- 
wards the  south-west,  and  passed  what  be  imagined  to 
be  Fi-obishei's  Strait,  which  in  fact  k)ng continued  to 
be  laid  down  on  the  coast  of  Greenland.  Hudson  now 
rounded  Cape  Farewell,  and  "  raised  the  Desolations," 
making  careful  observations  of  those  coasts,  which  he 
found  not  well  laid  down  on  the  charts.  Tlie  marin* 
ers  soon  began  to  desciy,  floating  along,  the  niigljty 
islands  of  ice, — a  sight  which  appalled  all  but  the 
stoutest  hearts.  Onward  they  sailed,  however,  some- 
times enjoying  a  clear  and  open  sea,  but  often  encom- 
passed by  these  mighty  masses,  or  by  the  small  and 
drifting  heaps ;  and  at  length  they  had  to  steer  as  it 
were  between  two  lands  of  ice.  They  sometimes 
moored  themselves,  on  occasions  of  j)eril,  to  these  ice- 
liCf^s  ;  but  seeing  one  of  them  fall  with  a  tremendous 
i^ra.sh  into  the  sea,  they  no  longer  ti'usted  to  such  a 
prot'».ction. 

!  in  the  25th  of  June  land  appeared  to  the  north, 
W/»  :igain  lost  sight  of,  and  afterward  discovered  to 
iL.  P'  :th  ;  80  that  they  found  themselves  at  the  broad 
entrance  of  the  channel  which  has  since  obtained  the 
name  of  Hudson's  Strait.  They  were  now  still  more 
troubled  with  ice  in  various  forms,  particularly  that 
of  large  islands  standing  deep  in  the  water,  which 
•were  more  difficult  to  avoid  fi-om  the  violent  ripples 
and  currents.  Thus  they  were  often  obliged,  especially 
amid  thick  fogs,  to  fasten  tlunnselvcs  to  the  largest 
j.ix([  li.-mest  of  these  masses,  upon  which  they  used  to 
go  out  fi'om  time  to  time  to  procure  the  wat(n-  melted 
in  llie  hollows,  which  proved  to  be  sweet  and  good. 

Amid  these  vicissitudes  many  of  the  sailors  l)ecaine 
fearful  and  some  of  thefii  sick,  and  Hudson  to  encour- 
age them  called  them  together  and  showed  tliem  his 


V 


i 

In 


f! 


96 


TROUBLE  "WrTH   THE   SAILOBS. 


chart,  from  which  it  appeared  that  they  had  penetrated 
farther  into  the  straits  by  a  hundred  leagues  than 
any  former  expedition ;  he  then  put  it  to  vote  whether 
they  sL    ; '  ^   •  roceed  on  or  not. 

This  wu.  bold  experiment,  but  did  not  succeed. 
Some,  it  is  irue,  expressed  themselves  "honestly 
respecting  the  good  of  the  action;"  others  declared 
they  Avould  give  nine-tenths  of  all  they  were  worth, 
so  that  they  were  safe  at  home;  othera  said  tliey 
did  not  care  where  they  went,  so  they  were  out  of 
the  ice. 

Hudson,  vexed  and  disappointed,  brolce  up  the 
conference,  and  determining  to  follow  his  own  coui-se 
iwcAe  his  way  onward,  having  sometimes  a  wide  and 
clear  sea,  and  being  occasionally  involved  amid  moun- 
tains of  ice.  Certain  rocky  islands,  in  which  he  found 
a  tolerable  harbor,  were  called  "  Isles  of  God's  Tilercy ; " 
but  even  this  refuge  was  rendered  dangerous  by  hid- 
den recti ;  and  the  i;jland  adjoining  to  it  contained 
only  "  plashes  of  -water  and  riven  rocks,"'  and  had  the 
appearance  of  being  subject  to  earthquake. 

At  length  they  anived  at  a  broad  opening,  having 
on  each  side  capes  to  which  Hudson  gave  the  names 
of  the  two  chief  patrons  of  the  voyage,  AVolstenholme 
and  jDigges.  Landing  at  the  latter  and  mounting  a  hill, 
the  men  descried  some  level  spots  abounding  in  sorrel 
and  e.curA-y  grass — plants  mojt  salutary  in  this  climate : 
wliile  herds  of  deer  were  feeding,  and  the  rocks  were 
covered  with  unexampled  profusion  of  fowls.  Seeing 
such  ample  materials  both  for  sport  and  food,  the  crew, 
who  had  cA'cr  showTi  the  most  anxious  concern  for 
their  own  comfort,  earnestly  besought  Hudson  to  allow 
them  to  remain  and  enjoy  themselves  for  a  few  daj'S 
on  this  agreeable  spot ;  but  he  would  not  consent  as 


DISCOVERY   OF   IITTDSOII'b   BAY, 


97 


the  season  for  discovery  was  rapidly  passing  away. 

After  proceeding  a  short  distance  through  tlie  open- 
ing, the  coasts  on  each  side  w«re  seen  to  separate,  and 
he  beheld  before  him  an  ocean-expanse,  to  which  the 
eye  could  discover  no  termination.  It  seemed  to  him, 
doubtless,  a  portion  of  the  mighty  Pacific,  though 
really  Hudson's  Bay.  Here,  however,  Hudson's  nar- 
rative closes,  without  expressing  those  feelings  of 
pride  and  exultation  which  must  have  filled  his  mind 
at  this  promised  f  uMllraent  of  his  highest  h()])es.  The 
naiTative  v^f  Pricket,  one  of  Hudson's  men,  must  be  the 
foundation  for  the  remaining  history  of  tlio  voyage. 

The  3d  of  August  had  now  arrived,  a  season  at 
which  the  boldest  of  northern  navicjators  luid  been  ac- 
customed  to  think  of  returning.  Little  iuoliued  to 
such  a  course,  Hudson  contiimed  to  sail  aloii^  the  coast 
on  the  left,  hoping  probably  before  the  close  of 
Autumn  to  reach  some  cultivated  and  temperate  shore 
where  he  might  take  up  his  winter-cpiurters.  The 
shores  along  this  bay,  though  not  in  a  very  high  lati- 
tude, are  suT)ject  to  a  climate  the  most  rigorous  and 
inclement.  Entangled  in  the  gulfs  and  capes  of  an 
unknown  coast,  struggling  with  mist  and  storm,  and 
ill-seconded  by  a  discontented  crew,  he  spent  three 
months  without  reaching  any  comfortable  haven. 

It  was  now  the  1st  of  November,  the  ice  was  clos- 
ing in  on  all  sides,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  meet 
the  cheerless  winter  which  had  actually  begun.  The 
Bailors  ■\vere  too  late  at  attempting  to  erect  a  wooden 
house;  yet  the  cold,  though  severe,  does  not  seem 
to  have  reached  any  perilous  height.  Tlieir  chief 
alarm  Avas  respecting  provisions,  of  which  they  had 
now  only  a  small  remnant  left.  Hudson  took  active 
measures  to  relieve  this  want,  and  offered  a  reward 


l!H 


M 


r- 


' 


f 


99 


IN   WmTEE   QUARTERS. 


II 


I' 


to  whoever  should  kill  beast,  fish,  or  bird;  and 
"Providence  dealt  mercifully,"  in  sending  such  a 
supply  of  Avliite  partridges,  that  in  three  months  they 
killed  a  hundred  dozen.  In  the  spring  these  birds 
disappeared,  but  were  succeeded  by  flocks  of  geese, 
swans,  and  ducks,  not  denizens  of  the  spot,  but  on 
their  iliijht  from  south  to  north.  When  these  were 
gone  the  air  no  longer  yielded  a  sujaply,  but  the  sea 
began  to  open,  and  having  on  the  first  day  taken  five 
hundred  fiahes,  they  were  much  encouraged ;  but 
their  success  at  fishing  did  not  continue ;  and  being 
reduced  to  great  extremity  they  searched  the  woods 
for  moss. 

Hudson  n  ,  .v  undertook  an  excursion  with  a  view 
to  open  an  intercourse  with  the  natives,  but  they  fled, 
setting  fire  to  the  woods  behind  them.  Parley  was 
obtained  \vith  one,  who  was  loaded  with  gifts,  yet  he 
never  returned.  Discontents  arose  as  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  small  remaining  portion  of  bread  and 
cheese,  to  allay  which  the  captain  made  a  general  and 
equal  partition  of  the  whole.  This  was  a  bad  meas- 
ure among  such  a  crew,  many  of  whom  knew  not  how 
*'  to  govern  their  share,"  but  greedily  devoured  it  as 
lone:  as  it  lasted. 

Hudson  liad  from  the  first  to  stiniggle  "svith  an  un- 
principled, ill-tempered  crew,  void  of  any  concern  for 
the  ultimate  success  of  the  voyage.  He  had  probably 
hoped,  as  the  season  should  advance,  to  push  on  south- 
ward and  reach  next  summer  the  wealthy  regions 
which  he  was  commissioned  to  search.  The  sailors, 
on  the  contrary,  had  fixed  their  desire  on  "the  c«i>e 
where  fowls  do  breed,"  the  only  place  where  they  ex- 
pected to  obtain  both  present  supply  and  the  means 
of  returning  to  England.     Ringleaders  were  not  want- 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  MUTENT. 


99 


ing  to  head  tliis  growing  party  of  malcontents.  At 
the  entrance  of  the  bay  the  captain  had  displaced  Ivet, 
the  mate,  who  had  shown  strong  pi'opensities  for  re- 
turning, and  appointed  in  his  room  Bylot,  a  man  of 
merit,  who  had  always  shown  zeal  in  the  general 
cause.     He  had  also  changed  the  boatswain. 

Among  the  crew  was  a  wretch  named  Gi'een,  whom 
Hudson  had  taken  on  board  and  endeavored  to 
reclaim.  He  was  possessed  of  talents  which  had 
made  him  useful,  and  even  a  favorite  Avith  his  supe- 
rior ;  and  among  other  discontents  of  the  crew,  it  was 
reckoned  one  that  a  veil  was  thrown  over  several  fla- 
grant disorders  of  which  he  had  been  guilty.  Yet 
some  hot  expressions  of  Hudson  so  acted  on  the  fierce 
spirit  of  this  ruffian,  that,  renouncing  every  tie  of 
gratitude  and  all  that  is  sacred  among  mankind,  he 
became  the  chief  in  a  conspiracy  to  seize  the  vessel 
and  expose  the  commander  to  perish. 

After  some  days'  consultation,  the  time  was  fixed 
for  the  perpetration  of  a  horrible  atrocity.  On  the 
2l8t  of  June,  1611,  Green  and  Wilson  the  boatswain, 
came  into  Pricket  the  narrator's  cabin,  and  announced 
theii"  fatal  resolution ;  adding,  that  they  bore  him  so 
much  good-will  as  to  wish  that  he  should  remain  on 
board.  Pricket  avers  most  solemnly,  that  he  exhaust- 
ed every  argument  which  might  induce  tliem  to  desist 
from  their  horrid  purpose,  beseeching  thein  not  to  do 
so  foul  a  thing  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  which 
would  for  ever  banish  them  from  their  native  country, 
their  wives,  and  children.  Green  Avildly  answered, 
that  they  had  made  up  their  minds  to  go  through 
with  it  or  die,  and  that  they  would  rather  be  hanged 
at  home  than  starve  here.  An  attempt  was  then  made 
to  negotiate  a  delay  of  three,  two,  or  even  one  day. 


\i- 


100 


THE   APPROACHINO   TEAOEDT. 


but  all  without  effect.  Ivet  declarins:  that  he  would 
justify  in  England  the  deed  on  which  they  had  re- 
sol  v^ed.  Pricket  according  to  his  own  story,  then  per- 
suaded them  to  delay  till  daylight  the  accomplishment 
of  their  crime. 

Daybreak  approaching,  Hudson  came  out  of  his 
cahin,  when  he  was  instantly  set  uj^on  by  Thomas, 
Bennet,  and  Wilson,  who  seized  him  and  bound  his 
hands  behind  his  back ;  and  on  his  eagerly  asking 
what  they  meant,  told  hini  he  should  know  when  he 
was  in  the  shallop.  Ivet  then  attacked  King,  the  car- 
penter, known  as  the  commander's  most  devoted  ad- 
herent. That  ])rave  feUow,  having  a  sv*'ord,  made  a 
formidable  resistance,  and  would  have  killed  his  as- 
BJiilant  had  not  the  latter  been  speedily  reinforced. 
The  mutineers  then  offered  to  him  the  choice  of  con- 
tinuing in  the  ship ;  but  he  absolutely  refused  to  be 
detained  other\vise  than  by  force,  and  immediately 
followed  his  mastei*  whom  the  conspirators  were  al- 
ready  letting  down  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  Hudson's 
son,  a  boy,  was  also  sent  into  the  boat. 

The  mutineei's  then  called  from  their  l)eds  and 
drove  into  the  boat,  six  sick  and  infirm  sailors  whose 
support  would  have  been  burdensome.  They  threw 
after  them  the  eai-penter's  box,  with  some  powder  and 
shot,  and  cutting  loose  from  the  boat  sailed  away. 
Hudson  and  his  companions  thus  abandoned,  were 
never  heard  of  more ;  and  undoubtedly  i:)erished  on 
those  remote  and  desolate  shores. 

As  soon  as  the  mutineers  had  time  to  reflect,  rueful 
misgivings  began  to  arise.  Even  Green,  who  now  as- 
sumed command,  admitted  that  England  at  this  time 
was  no  place  for  them,  nor  could  he  contrive  any 
better  scheme  than  to  keep  the  high  sea  till,  by  some 


ADVENTURES   OF  THE  MUTINEEBS. 


101 


jneans  or  other,  they  might  procure  a  pardon.  The 
vessel  was  now  embayed  and  detained  for  a  fortnight 
amid  fields  of  ice  which  extended  for  miles  around  it ; 
and,  but  for  some  cockle-grass  found  on  an  island  the 
crew  must  have  perished  by  famine.  Disputes  ^\  ith 
respect  to  the  steerage  arose  between  Ivet  and  Bylot, 
who  alone  had  any  pretensions  to  skill ;  but  the  latter 
at  length  guided  them  to  Cape  Digges,  the  longed-for 
spot,  the  breeding  place  for  fowls,  clouds  of  which 
still  continued  to  darken  the  air.  The  i)arty  imme- 
diately landed,  si)i'ead  themselves  among  the  rocks, 
and  began  to  shoot. 

While  the  boat  was  on  shore  they  saw  seven  canoes 
rowing  towards  them.  The  savages  came  forward 
beating  their  breasts,  dancing  and  leaping,  with  eveiy 
friendly  sign.  The  utmost  intimacy  commenced,  the 
parties  went  backward  and  forward,  shoAved  each 
other  their  mode  of  catching  fowls,  and  made  mutual 
presents  and  exchanges.  In  short,  these  appeared  the 
most  kind  and  simple  people  in  the  world,  and  "  God 
so  blinded  Henry  Green,"  that  he  vie^ved  them  with 
implicit  confidence. 

One  day,  amid  the  height  of  this  intimacy.  Pricket, 
sitting  in  the  boat,  suddenly  saw  a  native  close  to 
him  with  a  knife  uplifted  and  ready  to  strike.  In 
attempting  to  arrest  the  blow  his  hand  Avas  cut,  and 
he  could  not  escape  three  wounds ;  after  which  'he 
got  hold  of  the  handle  of  the  knife  and  wrenched 
it  from  the  assassin,  whom  he  then  pierced  with  his 
dagger.  At  the  same  time  a  general  attack  -was 
made  on  the  English  crew  dispersed  in  different 
quarters.  Green  and  Perse  came  tumbling  down 
wounded  into  the  boat,  which  pushed  off,  while 
Moter,    "  seeing    this    medley,"    leaped  into  the  sea, 


4 

-i  .'I 


I 


ife*! 


102 


THE   EINGLEADER8   KILLED   BY  NATIVES. 


il 


; 


I 


swam  out,  and,  getting  hold  of  the  stern  was  pulled 
in  by  Pei-se. 

The  savages  then  fired  arrows  at  the  boat,  one  of 
whicli  struck  Green  with  such  force  that  lie  died  on 
the  spot,  and  his  body  was  thrown  into  tlie  sea 
At  length  the  party  reached  the  vessel;  but  IV'ioter 
and  Wilson  died  that  day,  and  Perse  two  days  after. 
Thus  perished  the  chief  perpetrators  of  the  late 
dreadful  tragedy,  visited  by  Providence  with  a  fate 
not  less  terrible  than  that  which  they  had  inflicted  on 
their  victims. 

The  crew  thus  deprived  of  their  best  hands  were 
in  extreme  peiplexity,  obliged  to  ply  the  ship  to  and 
fro  across  the  straits,  and  unable  without  the  utmost 
fear  and  peril  to  venture  on  shore ;  although  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  obtaining  provisions  to  cany 
them  to  England.  They  contrived  during  some 
anxious  and  unhappy  excursions  to  collect  three 
hundred  birds,  which  they  salted  and  preserved  as 
the  only  stock  whereupon  to  attempt  the  voyage. 
They  suffered  during  the  passage  the  most  dreadful 
extremities  of  famine,  having  only  half  a  fowl  a  day 
to  each  man,-  and  considering  it  a  luxury  to  have  them 
fried  with  candles.  '  .    *     '  ;f 

Ivet,  now  the  sole  survivor  of  the  ringleaders  in 
the  late  dreadful  transaction,  sunk  under  these  priva- 
tions. The  last  fowl  was  in  the  steep-tub  and  the 
men  were  become  careless  or  desperate,  when  cuddenly 
it  pleased  God  to  give  them  sight  of  land,  Avhich 
proved  to  be  the  north  of  Ireland.  On  going  ashore 
at  Berehaven  they  did  not  meet  with  much  sympathy 
or  kindness;  but  by  mortgaging  their  vessel  they 
obtained  the  means  of  proceeding  to  PlymoutL 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ARCTIC    VOYAGES    OF    BUTTON,    BYLOT, 
BAFFIN,  MUNK,  JAMES,  AND  OTHERS. 


NoTWiTiiSTANDiNO  the  deplorable  issue  of  Hudson's 
last  voyage,  tlie  discovery  thereby  made  of  a  great 
open  sea  in  the  west  seemed  to  justify  the  most  flat- 
tering hopes  of  accomplishing  a  passage,  and  the  next 
year,  1612,  Captain  Button  was  sent  out,  with  By  lot 
and  Pricket  as  guides.  He  soon  made  his  Avay  thi'ough 
Hudson's  Straits,  and  pushing  directly  across  the 
great  sea  which  opened  to  the  westward,  came  in 
view  of  an  insular  ca])e,  which  afterward  proved  to  be 
the  most  southern  point  of  Southampton  Island. 
Nothing  else  broke  the  apparent  continuity  of  the 
ocean,  and  he  cherished  sanguine  hopes  that  the  first 
coast  he  should  see  would  be  that  of  Japan.  Sudden- 
ly the  alarm  of  land  was  given,  Avhen  there  appeared 
before  him  an  immense  range  of  Arctic  coast,  stretch- 
ing noi-th  and  south,  and  barring  all  farther  progress. 
Button,  deejdy  disappointed,  gave  it  the  name  of 
Hope  Checked. 

Before  he  had  time  to  look  for  an  opening,  the 
gloom  of  the  northern  winter  began  to  gather,  and  he 
had  to  seek  quarters  for  the  season,  and  found  them 
in  the  same  creek  and  river  which  afterward  became 


'«  I 
I  I 

)    t 
■i   I 


I 


! 


1 


I 


104 


CAPTAIN   GIBBON  S   ADVENTURE. 


the  principtil  settlement  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Corn- 
pan)-.  In  spite  of  his  best  precautions  he  lost  several 
men  through  the  severity  of  the  cold,  and  was  unable 
to  extricate  himself  from  the  ice  till  the  middle  of 
June.  He  then  steered  northward,  and  sought. an 
opening  through  the  broad  bay  between  the  continent 
and  Soutliampton  Island,  since  called  Roe's  Welcome. 
Seeing  this  channel,  however,  become  nanower  and 
narrower  till  it  apparently  closed,  he  gave  up  the  at- 
tem])t,  and  after  touching  at  several  points  of  the 
island  just  named  returned  to  England. 

Although  Button  had  been  thus  baffled  by  the  un- 
welcome encounter  of  the  western  shore  of  Hudson's 
Bay,  the  merchants  still  considered  it  by  no  means 
ascertained  that  this  coast  was  so  extensive  and  con- 
tinuous an  to  preclude  all  passage  into  the  ocean  be- 
yond Amei-ica;  accordiiTgly  they  fitted  out  (in  1(514) 
two  vessels  under  Captain  Gibbons,  an  officer  of  repu- 
tation, pronounced  by  Button  "  not  short  of  any  man 
that  ever  yet  he  carried  to  sea."  But  either  his  repu. 
tation  went  beyond  his  raej'its  or  fortune  was  singu- 
larly adverse,  for  never  was  there  a  more  abortive 
voyage.  He  was  early  entangled  in  a  ba}-  on  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  in  which  he  was  detained  the 
whole  summed,  and  which  was  afterward  dignified 
with  the  appellation  of  ''Gibbons  his  Hole."  Hav- 
ing here  sustained  some  damage  from  the  ice,  he  had 
no  sooner  extricated  himself  than  he  returned  home. 

The  merchant  adventurers,  «till  undismayed,  sent 
out  next  summer  (1615)  the  Discovery,  under  By- 
lot,  who  was  accompanied  by  William  Baffin,  a  skill- 
ful i)ilot  and  the  most  learned  navigator  of  the  age. 

Baffin  had  already  made  two  voyages  to  the  Green- 
land seas,  the  first  in  1613,  with  six  well-armed  ships, 


BAFFIN  8  EARLY   V0YAOE3. 


105 


whose  object  seems  to  Lave  been  to  chase  away  the 
whaling  vessels  of  other  nations.  The  next  year, 
1614,  he  accompanied,  as  pilot,  Kobeit  Fotherby, 
who  was  sent  out  with  the  ship  Tlionuisine,  to  accom- 
pany the  great  Greenland  fleet  of  ten  ships  and  two 
pinnaces.  While  they  were  fishing,  Fotherby  and 
Baffin  were  to  devote  themselves  mainly  to  dis- 
covery ;  bnt  their  cruise  resulted  in  n(»tliing  of  int  rest. 

]3yl«>t  and  Baffin  entered  Hudson's  Straits,  mid 
havinjj  on  the  2d  of  June  heard  from  the  noi-th- 
ern  shore  a  great  barking  of  dogs,  landed  and 
found  five  tents  covered  with  seal-skin,  among  which 
were  running  al)out  thirty-five  or  forty  of  these  ani- 
mals, of  a  brinded  black  color,  reseml)ling  wolves. 
They  had  collars  and  harness  suitable  for  sledges 
lined  with  fish-bone  which  were  standing  by.  In 
one  of  the  houses  was  a  bag  with  little  images  of 
men. 

The  navigators  soon  descried  a  canoe  with  twenty 
individuals,  whom  they  hailed  with  Greenland  words 
of  courteous  import,  holding  up  knives  and  other 
toys.  Friendly  salutations  were  given  in  return ; 
but  neither  party  chose  to  trust  themselves  within 
reach  of  the  other.  At  a  little  distance,  the  conflict  of 
opposite  currents  amid  large  icebergs  caused  so  fear- 
ful a  grinding  that  they  gave  to  the  adjoining  land 
the  name  of  Mill  Island.  There  they  Avonld  have 
been  in  extreme  danger  "  had  not  God,  ^vllo  is  strong- 
er than  ice  or  stream,"  delivered  them. 

The  policy  of  bylot  in  this  voyage  seems  to  have 
been  to  keep  close  to  the  noi-thern  shore  of  the  sti-ait ; 
and  thus,  entering  Hudson's  Bay  at  a  higher  latitude, 
he  hoped  to  keep  clear  of  those  lands  which  had 
barred  the  westerly  career  of  his  predecessors.     On 


it 


Pi  im 


#S 


I 


(^ 


106 


VOYAGE  OF  BYLOT  AND  BAFFIN. 


reacliing,  therefore,  Hudson's  Isles  of  God's  Mercy 
instead  of  steering  southward  to  Cape  Dudley  Digges, 
lie  proceeded  directly  west,  and  arrived  in  the  broad 
exj)anse  afterward  called  the  Fox  Channel. 

At  length  he  saw  laud,  but  it  was  bounded  by  a 
cape  "ivhich  had  every  appearance  of  being  the  most 
northerly  point  of  America.  He  called  it  Cape  Com- 
fort ;  though  this  name  it  soon  appeared  was  prema- 
ture, for  a  single  day  had  not  elapsed  when  "his 
sudden  comfort  Avas  as  soon  quailed." 

Tliey  were  now  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Southamp- 
ton Island,  whicli  spread  on  eveiy  side  its  almost 
measureless  extent,  seeming  to  preclude  every  prospect 
of  an  opening  on  either  hand.  Disappointment,  the 
lateness  of  the  season,  and  the  pressure  of  the  ice, 
concurred  in  persuading  Bylot  that  there  was  nothing 
to  be  hoped  for  here,  and  determined  him  to  set  sail 
immediately  for  England ;  whither  he  carried  a  most 
unfavura])]e  report  as  to  any  prospect  of  penetrating 
westward  in  that  direction. 

But  the  adventurers  were  not  discouraged  by  this 
adverse  residt.  Turning  their  hopes  to  a  different 
quarter,  next  year  (1G16)  they  again  fitted  out  Bylot 
and  Bailin  with  instructions  no  longer  to  attempt  the 
passage  by  Hudson's  Bay,  but  to  enter  Davis's  Straits, 
and  push  due  north  till  they  reached  lat.  SC,  if  an 
open  sea  shoidd  allow  them  to  proceed  so  far ;  then, 
turning  to  the  -westward,  to  round,  if  practicable,  the 
extreme  point  of  America,  and  to  bear  down  upon 
Japan. 

FolloAxing  the  course  pointed  out,  Baffin  reached, 
on  the  30th  of  May,  Hope  Sanderson,  the  farthest 
point  of  Davis's  progress,  and  soon  afterward  came  to 
a  number  of  small  islands  on  which  they  found  only 


JfEMORABLE   DISCOVEEIES. 


107 


'I 


females,  some  of  very  great  age.  These  at  fii'st  ran 
and  lii<l  tlieraselves  among  tlie  rocks ;  but  tlie  sailors 
having  reached  two  dames,  one  of  whom  was  estima- 
ted at  fourscore,  and  having  presented  to  them  bits 
of  iron  and  the  iisual  toys,  the  latter  carried  a  fa- 
vorable report  to  their  youthful  countr}-  women. 
The  Avliole  party  soon  came  down  to  the  shore,  and 
four  even  went  on  board  the  boat.  Tlie  charms  of 
these  ladies  were  heightened  or  disfigured  by  long 
black  streaks  made  in  their  youth  with  a  sharp  instni- 
ment,  and  lodged  s*o  deep  that  they  could  not  now  be 
effaced. 

The  navigators  sailed  onwards  in  lat.  74'',  Avhen 
they  were  arrested  by  a  large  body  of  ice,  .and  oljliged 
to  turn  into  a  neinfliborincr  sound  to  wait  its  nieltinjj: 
Here  they  received  repeated  visits  from  about  forty 
natives,  the  only  account  of  whom  is,  that  they 
brought  an  extraordinary  quantity  of  the  bones  of 
sea-unicorns  or  narwals,  great  numbers  of  which  were 
seen  swimming  in  the  water.  Hence  this  Avas  called 
Horn  Sound.  The  mass  of  ice  now  dissolved  before 
the  poAverful  influence  of  the  sun,  and  the  discoverers 
sailed  nortlnv^ards  among  its  fragments ;  but  stilly  snow 
fell  every  day,  and  the  shrouds  and  sails  wmo  often 
so  hard  frozen  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  handle 
them. 

After  having  experienced  a  severe  storm,  the  expe- 
dition discovered  a  sound,  which  Avould  have  supplied 
them  Avith  a  multitude  of  Avhales  had  they  been  pro- 
A'ided  Avilh  the  means  of  capture:  this  they  called 
Whale  Sound.  Kext,  in  TS'^,  appeared  another  inlet, 
the  Avidest  and  greatest  in  all  this  sea,  and  Avhich  Avas 
named  after  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  one  of  the  main  pro- 


moters   of    discovery. 


Tliis 

7 


opening,    Avhich   Baffin 


'I 


11^ 


111 


5'! 


J-  ;l 


108 


MEMOK^^LE  DISC0VEEIE8. 


i'f 


seems  to  liave  examined  very  supei-fieially,  abounded 
almost  eiiiially  in  A^hales,  and  caused  pai'ticular  aston- 
ishment by  the  extraordinary  variation  of  Die  needle, 
to  wliieli  nothincj  similar  had  ever  been  witnessed. 
Between  tliese  two  sounds  was  an  island  which  was 
named  Ilakluyt,  after  the  venerable  recorder  of  early 
English  discoveries. 

Proceeding  now  along  the  south-western  boundaiy 
of  this  great  sea,  the  next  "  fair  sound  "  received  the 
name  of  Alderman  Jones,  a  patron  of  the  enterprise. 
In  hit.  74°,  there  appeared  another  broad  opening 
which  was  called  Sii'  James  Lancaster's  Sound ;  but 
while  Baffin  calls  it  great,  he  seems  scarcely  to  have 
noticed  this  future  entrance  into  the  Polar  Sea;  on 
the  contrary,  he  observes,  at  the  very  same  moment, 
tlmt  the  hope  of  a  passage  became  every  day  less  and 
less.  He  sailed  on ;  but  a  barrier  of  ice  prevented 
him  from  approaching  the  shore  till  he  came  within 
the  *'  indraft "  of  Cumberland's  Isles,  "  Avhere  hope  oi 
passage  could  be  none." 

Finding  the  health  of  his  crew  rather  declining,  he 
sailed  across  to  Greenland,  where  an  abundance  of 
eciu'vy-grass  boiled  in  beer  quickly  restored  them ;  and 
"  the  Lord  then  sent  a  8j)eedy  and  good  i)assage 
homeward." 

On  returning,  Baffin  expressed  the  most  decided 
conviction  that  the  great  sea  which  he  had  traversed 
was  a  bay  enclosed  on  all  sides,  and  affording  no 
opening  into  any  ocean  to  the  westward;  and  his 
judgment  was  received  by  the  public,  who  named  ifc 
from  liim  Baffin's  Bay.  lie  forcibl}',  however,  repre- 
sented the  great  opportunities  which  it  xifforded  for 
the  whale-fisherj',  as  those  huge  jiuimals  were  seen 
sleeping  in  vast  numbers  on  the  surface  of  tlie  water, 


ARCTIC   AUROKA. 


ibsage 


tackled 
-ersetl 
ig  no 
id  Lis 
lued  it 
[repre- 
jil  for 
seen 
rater, 


VIEW   ON   THK   SPITZBRRCEN   COAST. 


If  ■ 

■1 

ill 

p 

p 

1 

i'': 

1  i !  '■ 

i     "i'  )    • 

':    ■  \ 

'•'    T  ' 

i     . 

i  isr 


i 


i  ii 


ii 


i;^ 


rOTHEEBY^8  VOYAGE. 


Ill 


without  fear  of  the  ship  "  or  of  anything  else." 
Baffin  was  killed  near  Ormuz  in  1C21,  while  engaged 
in  an  expedition  against  the  Portuguese. 

In  1615,  Fotherby  who  had  just  returned  from  a 
voyage  with  Baffin,  was  sent  out  in  the  Richard,  a 
pinnace  of  only  twenty  tons.  After  many  conflicts 
with  ice  and  fog,  he  reached  Hakluyt's  Headland 
about  the  beginning  of  July.  He  soon  began  his  career 
of  discovery ;  but  a  strong  southerly  gale  driving  him 
upon  the  ice,  shattered  his  bark  considerably,  and 
obliged  him  to  return.  As  soon  as  his  vessel  was  re- 
fitted, he  endeavored  by  a  westerly  course  to  find  an 
opening  among  the  ice,  which  projected  in  various 
points  and  capes,  but  was  drifted  by  it  far  to  the 
soatlnvard,  where  he  descried  a  snowy  hill  very  high 
amid  the  clouds;  and  the  fog  lying  on  each  side  made 
it  appear  like  a  great  continent. 

It  proved,  liowever,  to  be  only  an  island — probably 
Jan  Mayen  ;  and  as  the  shores  presented  nothing  but 
drift-wood,  and  appeared  as  if  fortified  Avith  castles 
and  bulwarks  of  rock,  no  shelter  was  afforded  from  a 
heavy  gale  which  began  to  blow.  This  induced  him 
to  stand  out  asrain  to  sea.  He  renrained  the  northern 
point  of  Spitzbergen,  and  began  to  })eat  for  a  Polar 
passage.  The  wind,  however,  blew  so  strong  from 
the  north-north-east  that  he  gave  up  the  attempt,  only 
resolving,  on  his  way  home,  to  take  a  suiTey  of  Hud- 
son's IIold-with-Hope.  He  came  to  the  place  Avhere 
it  ought  to  have  been,  but  finding  no  land  he  insisted 
that  Hudson  nmst  have  been  mistaken  in  the  position 
assigned  to  it.  Availing  himself  then  of  a  brisk 
northerly  breeze,  he  sailed  for  England. 

Fotherby,  on  being  asked  as  to  the  prosj^ects  of  a 
passage  through  these  seas,  replied  that  thf)ngh  he  had 


M 
[1 


' 


:  m 


112 


DANISH  EXPEDrnON. 


not  attained  in  this  respect  his  desire,  nothing  yet  ap- 
peared to  exchide  hope.  There  was  a  spacious  sea 
between  Greenland  and  Spitzbergen,  though  much 
incumbered  with  ice;  and  he  would  not  dissuade 
the  "  worshipful  company  "  from  a  yearly  adventure  of 
£200.  The  little  pinnace,  with  ten  men,  in  which  he 
had  sailed  two  thousand  leagues,  appeared  to  him 
more  convenient  for  that  purpose  than  any  of  larger 
dimensions. 

Denmark,  which  had  always  felt  a  natural  interest 
in  northern  navigation,  subsequently  made  an  attempt 
to  follow  up  the  success  of  Hudson  and  Baffin.  In  161 9, 
Christian  IV.  sent  out  two  well-appointed  vessels 
under  Jens  Munk,  who  had  the  reputation  of  a  good 
seaman.  He  succeeded  in  penetrating  through  Hud- 
son's Straits  into  Hudson's  Bay,  where  he  took  upon 
himself  to  change  the  whole  nomenclature  of  that  re- 
gion, imposing  the  names  of  Christian's  Straits  and 
Christian's  Sea,  and  calling  the  western  coast  New 
Denmark.  But  this  innovation,  which  was  contrary 
to  every  principle  recognized  in  such  cases,  has  not 
been  confirmed  by  posterity. 

When  September  anived,  and  the  ice  began  to 
form,  Munk  established  himself  in  winter  quarters 
at  the  entrance  of  Chesterfield  Inlet.  The  season 
seemed  to  open  with  the  best  promise,  commodious 
huts  were  constructed,  and  there  were  both  abundance 
and  variety  of  game.  The  Danes  saw  some  brilliant 
aerial  phenomena — at  one  time  three  suns  in  the  sky, 
and  the  moon  environed  by  a  transparent  circle,  Avith- 
in  which  was  a  cross  cutting  through  its  centre :  l)ut, 
instead  of  amusing  their  minds  with  these  beautiful 
appearances,  they  were  depressed  by  viewing  them  as 
a  mysterious  presage  of  future  evils.        '  • 


hunk's  disastrous  voyage. 


113 


Frost  now  set  in  with  all  its  intensity ;  their  beer, 
wine  and  other  liquors  were  converted  into  ice ;  the 
scur\y  began  its  ravages,  and,  ignorant  of  the  mode 
of  treating  it,  they  employed  no  remedy  except  a 
large  quantity  of  spirits,  which  has  always  been  found 
to  aggravate  that  frightful  disorder.  Unfit  for  the 
exertion  necessary  to  secure  the  game  with  which  the 
country  abounded,  they  soon  had  famine  added  to 
their  other  distresses.  Their  miseries  seem  to  have 
been  almost  without  a  parallel,  even  in  the  dark  an- 
nals of  northern  navigation.  Munk  himself  was  left 
four  days  in  his  hut  without  food,  and  on  crawling 
out,  found  that  of  the  original  crew  of  fifty-two,  only 
two  survived. 

The  three  men  now  determined  to  make  an  effort 
to  preserve  life.  Gathering  strength  from  despair, 
they  dug  into  the  snow,  under  which  they  found  herbs 
and  grass,  which  being  of  an  anti-scorbutic  quality 
soon  produced  a  degree  of  amendment.  Being  then 
able  to  fish  and  shoot,  they  gradually  regained  their 
natural  ^^gor.  They  equipped  anew  the  smaller  of 
the  two  vessels,  in  which  they  reached  home  on  the 
25th  of  September,  1620,  after  a  stormy  and  perilous 
voyage. 

Munk  declared  his  readiness  to  sail  again ;  and 
there  are  various  reports  as  to  the  cause  why  he  did 
not.  Some  say,  that  having  in  a  conference  with  the 
king,  been  stung  by  some  expressions  wliich  seemed 
to  impute  the  disasters  of  the  voyage  to  his  misman- 
agement, he  died  of  a  broken  heart.  But  Forster  re- 
lates, that  during  several  successive  years  he  was 
em[)loyed  by  the  king  on  the  North  Sea  and  in  the 
Elbe,  and  that  he  died  in  1628,  when  engaged  in  a 
naval  expedition. 


«^ 


1 


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f  m 


!  I 

!  i 


114 


TIIE   FOX   AND   JAJIES   EXPEDITION. 


i 


I 


i 


In  1631  an  English  Expedition  of  two  ships  com- 
manded by  Captains  Fox  and  James,  was  sent  to  ex- 
amine Iliidson's  Bay.  Fox  explored  the  channels  on 
each  side  of  Southampton  Island ;  that  on  the  west- 
ern side  he  named  Roe's  Welcome  ;  the  other  one  he 
called  from  his  OA\'n  name,  Fox  Channel. 

Capt.  James  sailed  to  the  southerly  shores  of  Hud- 
son's Bay,  and  as  winter  came  on  found  a  luii'bor  in 
■  what  is  noAV  kno^vn  as  James's  Bay.  Snow  soon  fell  to  a 
great  deptli,  the  sails  were  frozen  stiff,  and  the  cables 
from  accunmlated  ice  became  as  thick  as  a  man's  l)ody. 

Preparations  were  now  made  for  a  long  residence 
at  this  place ;  wood  was  cut  for  fuel,  and  search  was 
made  in  every  direction  for  traces  of  human  beings, 
but  none  were  found.  A  house  was  erected  on  shore 
in  which  a  portion  of  the  crew  slept  at  night,  armed 
with  muskets  to  defend  themselves  in  case  of  attack. 
The  main-sail  was  used  as  a  coverinsr  for  the  house. 
A  well  Avas  dug,  arid  the  men  sjient  much  of  their 
time  in  trapi)ing  and  hunting  foxes  and  other  animals. 

In  October,  six  of  the  men  set  out  A\ith  dogs  to  hunt 
deer  Avhose  tracks  had  been  seen,  and  returtied  next 
day  with  only  one  small  animal,  having  i)assed  a  mis- 
eraljle  niglit  in  the  woods.  Another  party  which 
went  out  Avas  entirely  unsuccessful  in  their  hunt,  and 
lost  one  of  their  number  who  was  drowned  when 
crossing  a  frozen  pond. 

As  the  cold  increased  the  ship  was  entirely  covered 
with  snow  and  ice ;  and  it  was  so  beaten  about  against 
the  ice  by  the  winds  and  cun-ents  that  tliere  was  great 
danger  of  its  being  destroyed.  The  captain  now  pro- 
posed to  bore  holes  in  the  ship  and  sink  it  in  shallow 
water,  where  it  might  safely  remain  till  spring,  when, 
pei'haps,  it  could  be  again  floated.     This  was  a  fear- 


APrROAriiixo  WINTER— James's  bat. 


TIIK    ICK-UOIM)    IIAKIIUIl. 


11 

i 

1l 

t 

1 

1 

!! 


A   WINTBB  OF   SUFFEEINO 


117 


ful  expedient ;  but  after  all  tlie  provisions  and  articles 
needed  had  been  taken  on  shore,  it  was  adopted ;  al- 
though the  crew,  generally  never  supposed  that  tlie  ship 
could  be  raised  again. 

They  liad  much  confidence  in  their  captain  and 
obeyed  all  his  commands  implicitl}'.  "  If,"  said  he, 
"  we  end  our  days  here,  we  are  as  near  heaven  as  in 
England ;  and  we  are  much  bound  to  God  Almighty, 
for  ha^dng  given  us  so  large  a  time  for  repentance, 
and  having  thus,  as  it  were,  daily  called  upon  us  to 
prepare  our  souls  for  a  better  life  in  heaven.  He 
does  not,  in  the  meantime  deny  that  we  may  use  all 
proper  means  to  save  and  prolong  our  lives ;  and  in 
my  judgment,  we  are  not  so  far  jvist  hope  of  return- 
ing to  our  native  country,  but  that  I  see  a  fair  Avay 
by  which  we  may  effect  it.' 

Under  direction  of  the  carpenter  timber  Avas  cut,  and 
the  building  of  a  large  boat  was  begun,  in  wliieh  they 
might  escape  if  the  ship  was  destroyed.  All  worked 
hard  upon  it,  and  the  carjienter  became  so  ill  and  weak 
that  he  could  scarcely  walk  and  subsequently  died. 
The  shoes  of  tlie  men  -were  all  worn  out,  and  they 
suffered  much  from  cold  for  many  successive  months. 

During  all  this  season  of  distress  Captain  James 
and  his  crew  never  omitted  regidar  devotional  ser 
\dces.  Th(y  particularly  solemnized  Easter  day,  the 
20th  of  April  lGo2  ;  and  on  that  day  while  theyAvere 
sitting  round  their  fire,  the  captain  proposed  to  attempt, 
on  the  first  opening  of  the  warm  weather,  to  clear  the 
ship  of  ice.  This  was  considered  by  some  of  the  crew 
impossible ;  because  they  believed  her  to  be  filled  Avith 
one  solid  mass  of  ice.  The  attempt,  ho^vever,  was  re- 
solved \ipon  ;  but  their  only  imidements  for  the  work 
were  two  iron  bars  and  J:our  broken  shovels. 


I 


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!  Bl' 


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I     :: 


, 

11 

1 

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111 


ii! 


1 


118 


FINAL   ESCAPE. 


'' 


'Ml 


The  time  passed  miserably  on,  till  the  niiddle  of 
May,  when  efforts  were  made  to  clear  the  decks  of 
snow.  From  this  peiiod  the  vessel  began  to  occupy 
much  of  the  attention  of  the  captain  and  l:'s  crew. 
The  great  cabin  was  found  to  be  free  fiom  ice 
and  water,  and  a  fire  was  lighted  to  clear  and 
dry  it.  One  of  the  anchors,  which  was  supposed 
to  have  been  lost,  was  found  under  the  ice  and  recov- 
ered. Soon  afterwards  they  came  to  a  cask,  and  found 
it  full  of  good  beer ;  which  was  a  cause  of  great  re- 
joicing. 

They  then  dug  through  the  ice  on  the  outside  of 
the  vessel,  and  plugged  the  holes  made  in  scuttling  it. 
The  weather  grew  warmer  which  thawed  the  ice  in 
the  hold,  the  water  was  pumped  out,  and  many  barrels 
of  beer  and  salt  beef  were  found  in  good  condition. 

Open  water  first  appeared  on  the  lOtli  of  June ; 
four  daj  s  after  the  ship  was  reloaded,  and  the  sails 
reset.  A  cross  was  then  erected  on  land,  and  to  the 
top  of  it  were  tied  pictures  of  the  king  and  queen. 
On  the  2d  day  of  July,  after  the  captain  and  his  crew 
had  all  devoutly  paid  thanksgiving  to  the  Almighty 
for  their  providential  deliverance,  they  weighed 
anchor,  and  proceeded  on  their  voyage,  and  reached 
England  in  October. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  an  association  of  mer- 
chants was  organized  in  1670  under  the  jiatronage  of 
Prince  Rupert,  second  cousin  of  Charles  II.  Its  very 
favorable  charter  conferred  on  them  the  right  to  the 
exclusive  trade  of  the  region,  and  territorial  jiosses- 
sion  of  the  vast  domain.  It  imposed  on  the  Com- 
pany the  duty  of  making  strenuous  exertions  for  the 
discovery  of  a  western  passage ;  but  its  officers  paid 
little  attention  to  the  subject  till  1V19  when  they  fit- 


A   LOST  EXPEDITION 


119 


'in'! 


ted  out  an  expedition  under  Kiiiglit  and  Barlow. 
These  officei*s  never  returned,  and  a  vessel  sent  next 
year  under  Captain  Scroggs  couUl  learn  no  tidings 
of  them.  Nor  was  it  till  nearly  fil'ty  }'ears  afterward 
that  the  "wrecks  of  their  arniamont  were  found  on 
Marble  Inland,  where  they  had  heen  cast  ashore. 

In  1741,  Captain  Middleton  ol)tained  the  conuaand 
of  two  vessels,  with  which  he  exaiuined  Wager  Inlet, 
and  then  sailed  up  Iloe's  Welcome — a  channel  lying 
V  st  of  Southampton  Island-  -to  its  northern  extremity. 
TT-.  ^  lie  found  a  spacious  opening,  which  gave  him  at 
first  great  hopes  of  success ;  but  iluding  it  shut  in  by 
land,  he  named  it  Repulse  Bay.  He  then  followed 
the  coast  in  an  easterly  direction  till  he  came  to  a 
channel,  which,  from  the  accumulation  of  ice  at  its 
entrance,  he  called  the  Frozen  Strait.  lie  returned 
Lome,  expressing  a  decided  conviction  that  no  practi- 
cable passage  existed  in  that  direction. 

Mr.  Dobbs,  the  mover  of  the  expedition,  Avas  deeply 
di3apj)oiuted  by  this  result ;  and  from  his  oavu  ref^.ec- 
tions,  and  the  statement  of  several  of  the  inferior  offi- 
eel's,  became  satisfied  that  Middleton  had  given  a  very 
false  and  imperfect  statement  of  the  facts ;  though  such 
was  not  the  case.  £10,000  Avas  suT)i^cribed  for  a  new 
expedition,  and  a  standing  offer  of  a  reward  of  £20,000 
to  the  discoverers  of  a  North-west  passage  was  made 
by  the  English  government. 

Captains  Moor  and  Smith  commanded  this  new 
expedition,  Avhich  sailed  in  1740;  like  many  others 
ecpiipped  with  peculiar  pt)mp  and  circumstance,  it 
entirely  failed.  They  merely  ascertained,  what  was 
pretty  Avell  known  before,  that  the  Wager  Inlet 
aiforded  no  passage ;  and  after  spending  a  severe 
winter   there,  returned  to  England. 


n 


■    u 

,     ■!■■ 


% 


120 


HERNE  AITD   PHIPPS. 


i 


M 


Hi 


111  1770,  Samuel  Heme,  an  officer  of  tlie  Hudson's 
Biiy  Comi)any,  descended  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cop- 
permine River,  and  thus  opened  the  way  for  subse- 
quent explorers.  His  journal  of  the  trip  lay  for  many 
years  in  a  "  pigeon-hole  "  at  the  head-quarters  of  the 
company.  AVhen  the  fortunes  of  war  found  the  French 
Admiral  La  Perouse  the  captor  of  Fort  York,  he 
there  found  Heme's  journal,  read  it,  and  was  so  pleased 
with  it  that  lie  told  the  officer  that  if  he  would  pledge 
his  honor  that  it  should  be  published,  he  might  have 
back  his  fort  and  all  that  pertained  to  it.  The  offer 
was  accepted,  the  French  retired,  and  thus  it  came 
about  that  Heme's  record  was  put  in  print. 

In  June,  1773,  an  expedition  under  Captain  John 
Phipjis  (afterward  known  as  Lord  Mulgrave)  consist- 
ing of  two  bomb-vessels — the  "  Racehorse  "  and  the 
"  Carcass  " — sailed  from  England  to  search  for  the 
North  Pole,  The  Carcass  was  commanded  by  Lieut. 
Lutwidge,  under  whom  Horatio  Nelson,  afterward 
the  naval  hero  of  Engluind,  served  as  cockswain.  The 
route  was  up  the  Greenland  Sea,  and  the  highest  lat- 
itude reached  was  80''  48^,  and  the  most  easterly 
point  was  near  the  Seven  Islands  to  the  north  of  Spitz- 
bergeii  in  longitude  20^.  To  the  nortii  and  north- 
east was  a  solid  pack  ol*  ice  covered  with  snow. 
Here  the  ships  vr«^re  l>ecaimed  and  frozen  in  amid  a 
beautiful  and  picturesque  scene;  but  as tiie  crew  were 
starting  over  the  ice  to  attempt  to  reach  the  Dutch 
whaling  ships,  the  ice  opened  and  t\w  ships  escaped 
to  the  south  and  reacht-d  England  in  September. 

In  177(),  Cajitain  Cook  sailed  from  England  on  his 
last  voyage,  anil  in  1778  passed  u])  Bering's  Strait, 
expecting  to  ])ioceed  along  the  coeist  of  America  to 
Baffin's  Bay,  ^\here  a  vessel  was  sent  to  meet  him. 


CAPTAIN   COOK  S   VOYAGE. 


121 


But  lie  was  unaMe  to  j>f netrate  further  than  Icy  Cape 
on  account  of  the  ice,  and  after  examining  the  coasts 
on  both  sides  of  the  strait,  he  went  to  the  Sand\\  ich 
Islands,  where  he  was  killed  in  an  affray  with  the 
natives. 

In  1 789,  Alexander  Mackenzie  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  great  river  ■which  bears  his  name,  and  looked 
out  on  the  Arctic  Sea.  In  a  second  journey  he  crossed 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  followed  Frazer  River  to 
its  mouth  at  the  Georgian  Gulf,  opposite  Vancouver's 
Island,  where  he  arrived  in  July,  1792. 


V' 


li 


Ml 


iiiii 


1 


I: 


I' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  ARCTIC  A\  HALE-FISHERY. 


il; 


I! 

i  'i 


! 


I  >l 


Wl 


II'  I 

f  ^i 


The  Arctic  seas  are  tlie  native  regions  of  the  true 
whale,  and  he  never  leaves  them.  Man,  ever  search- 
ing for  ol)jects  of  use  and  profit,  early  discovered  in 
these  huge  creatures  a  variety  of  substances  fitted 
for  the  supply  of  important  wants.  No  sooner, 
therefore,  had  the  course  of  discovery  opened  a  way 
into  the  seas  of  the  north,  than  daring  fishermen 
ventured  thither  and  commenced  a  branch  of  com- 
merce which  has  proved  of  great  importance  to  the 
wo)-l(l,  but  which  is  more  full  of  adventure  and  peril, 
than  any  other  occupation  in  which  man  engages  for 
a  livelihood. 

As  early  as  the  ninth  century,  whales  were  cap- 
tured on  the  Norway  coast;  but  they  were  then 
valued  chiefly  for  their  flesh,  which  satisfied  the 
hunger  and  even  gratified  the  tastes  of  primitive  man 
— wliale's  tongues  being  counted  among  the  luxuries 
of  tlie  middle  ages.  In  later  years,  when  civilization 
rejected  the  flesh  of  the  whale  as  an  article  of  food, 
the  oil  was  needed  to  supply  the  winter  lamp,  and 
for  other  ])urposes;  while  the  firm,  flexible,  elastic 
bone  was  found  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  for  various 
articles  of  dress,  ornament,  and  common  use. 

The   EnLflish  were  tlie  first  who  pushed   whaling 

122 


EARLY  FISHING  EXPEDITIONS. 


123 


operations  into  the  high  latitudes  of  the  Arctic  seas. 
The  discovery  of  Spitzbergen,  by  Barentz,  Avas  followed 
by  the  voyage  of  Stephen  Bennet,  who  re-discovered 
Bear  Island  and  named  it  Cherie  Island.  A  series  of 
voyages  for  tlie  capture  of  Avalrus  ensued,  in  which 
Bennet,  Jonas  Poole,  and  others  took  a  ]>art ;  but  the 
attention  of  these  hardy  walrus-hunters  was  soon 
attracted  to  a  game  more  worthy  of  their  steel. 

The  voyages  of  Hudson  led  the  way  to  a  great  and 
flourishing  whaling  trade,  in  which  many  nations 
competed  for  pre-eminence,  and  v,  hich  opened  one  of 
the  most  interestiiij^  chapters  in  the  history  of  En- 
glish and  Dutch  commercial  enterprise.  Henceforth, 
for  more  than  two  centuries,  Ihat  part  of  the  frontier 
of  the  unex})lored  region  which  extends  from  Spitz- 
bergen to  Greenland,  was  annually  frequented  by 
fleets  of  whalers. 

Hudson,  on  returning  from  his  Polar  voj^age,  re- 
ported having  seen  large  numbers  of  whales  along 
the  coast  of  Spitzbergen;  and  in  1611,  tlie  Muscovy 
Company  sent  out  the  "  Mary  Margaret "  with  CA-ery- 
thing  then  considered  requisite  for  catching  whales. 
Captain  Edge,  her  commander,  succeeded  in  taking 
one  small  whale,  which  yielded  twehe  tons  of  oil — 
the  first,  he  believed,  that  was  ever  extracted  in  the 
Greenland  seas.  Soon  afterward  the  Maiy  Margaret 
was  wrecked,  and  her  crew  in  three  boats  were  found  at 
Spitzbergen  by  Captain  Poole,  of  the  Elizabeth,  a 
craft  of  fifty  tons.  Poole  caught  so  many  walrus  on 
this  trip,  that  their  hides  caused  the  destruction  of 
Jiis  vessel,  for  they  shifted  in  the  hold  and  capsized 
her.  Poole  and  his  crew  escaj)ed,  and  were  taken 
home  by  Captain  Marniaduke. 
^    Notwithstanding  the   unfortunate  termination  of 


lit 


124 


THE   SPrrZBERGEN   WHALING-GROUNDS. 


L 


111: 


m. 


I  111 


their  first  whaling  venture,  the  Muscovy  Company- 
sent  out  two  ships  under  Poole  the  next  season  to 
folloAV  up  the  undertaking.  Meantime  the  Dutch, 
intent  on  every  form  of  commercial  adventure,  had 
sent  vessels  to  the  Greenland  seas  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. These  the  Englishmen  considered  as  inter- 
lopers; and  being  the  strongest  party  they  com- 
pelled their  rivals  to  leave.  Next  year  the  same 
company  obtained  a  royal  charter,  prohibiting  all 
besides  themselves  to  intermeddle  in  any  shape  with 
this  valuable  branch  of  industry.  To  make  good 
this  pri\'ilege,  the  company  fitted  out  an  expedition 
of  seven  -well-armed  ships,  under  command  of  William 
Baffin,  who,  on  reaching  the  seas  round  Spitzl)orgen, 
found  tliem  filled  with  shij^s  of  different  nations, 
Dutch,  Fre  ich,  and  Spanish,  All  were  compelled  to 
depait,  or  ;o  fish  under  the  condition  of  delivering 
half  of  the  proceeds  to  the  English  as  the  lords  of  the 
northern  seas. 

This  interference  with  the  whaling  vessels  of  other 
nations,  was  denounced  as  a  flagrant  example  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  new  mistress  of  the  ocean ;  and  the 
Dutch  determined  not  to  submit,  but  to  repel  force 
by  force.  For  this  purpose,  they  sent  out  fleets  so 
numerous  and  so  well-armed,  that  for  some  years  thei'e 
was  but  sliu'lit  interference  Avith  their  rii^-hts.  At 
length,  in  1G18,  a  general  encounter  took  place,  which 
resulted  disastrously  to  the  English,  for  one  of  their 
sliips  was  taken  and  carried  to  Amsterdam,  The 
Dutch  government,  anxious  for  peace,  rewarded  the 
captors  but  restored  the  vessel.  This  led  to  a  com- 
piomise,  and  at  last  to  a  division  of  the  Spitzl)ei'gen 
whaling-gronnds  among  the  nations  whose  sliips  had 
been  accustomed  to  resort  there.     There  was  plenty 


ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   EDGE. 


125 


of  room  for  all ;  but  business  did  not  prove  profitaT)le 
to  the  English  owners;  the  gains  of  their  fishery- 
were  absorbed  by  losses ;  and,  eventually,  for  many 
years,  scarcely  an  English  ship  sailed  northward. 

But  durino;  the  time  that  English  mariners  were  in 
the  ascendant  in  the  Spitzbergen  waters,  fi-om  the 
voyage  of  stout  Henry  Hudson  in  1607  to  about  1022, 
they  did  excellent  geographical  work,  Greenland 
was  the  name  applied  in  those  days  to  the  Spitzber- 
gen Archipelago.  In  1613  and  1014  they  dis- 
cov^ered  Hope  Island,  and  other  islands  to  the  south- 
eastward of  Spitzbergen.  In  1610  Captain  Edge,  one  of 
the  leading  spii'its  in  the  early  whaling  enterprises, 
sent  a  pinnace  to  the  eastward,  to  exjdore  E<lge  Island, 
and  other  land  on  the  east  side,  as  far  as  7fi°  north. 
This  pinnace  was  a  boat  of  twenty  ton-,  Avith  a  crew 
of  twelve  men.  She  is  portrayed  on  the  curious  old 
chart  of  Spitzbergen  in  "  Purchas's  Pilgi-inies,"  pulling 
up  Stor  Fiord.  The  pinnace's  crew  killed  a  thou- 
sand sea-horses  on  Edge  Island,  and  got  1,800  tons 
(barrels?)  of  oil.  In  1013,  the  Dutch  followed  the 
example,  and  the  Dutch  and  English  seamen  often 
came  to  l)lows  over  the  exclusive  right  of  the  fishery. 
One  of  the  English  expeditions  of  this  peritKl  discov- 
ered a  large  island  to  the  eastward  of  Spitzljergen, 
which  was  never  visited  again  until  three  Norwegian 
sealing  vessels  reached  it  in  187'i.  This  di^^covery  is 
thus  recorded  in  Purchas: — 

"In  the  yeare  1017  the  Company  set  out  for  Green- 
land fourteene  sayle  of  ships,  and  their  two  pinnasses, 
furnislu!(l  with  a  sufficient  number  of  men  and  all 
other  provisions  fitting  for  the  voyage,  uudei'  the  com- 
mand of  Thomas  Edge.  .  .  .  They  emjdoyed  a  ship  of 
sixtie  tunues,  wila  twenty  men  in  her,  who  discovered 


M\ 


n 


JHi 


I 


\m 


I 

'i; 


I 


ANCIENT  MAP  OF  SPITZBERGEN-FIIOM  "PUUCHA8  HIS  PILGUIMS.' 


OUTCn  ENTERPRISE — A  DESERTED  VILLAGE.       127 

to  tlie  eastward  of  Greenland,  as  far  to  the  north- 
wards as  seventie-nine  degrees,  an  iland  which  he 
named  "Wiches  Iland,  and  divers  other  ilands  as  by 
the  map  appeareth,  and  killed  store  of  sea-horses 
there,  and  then  came  into  Bel  Sound,  where  he  found 
his  lading  of  oyle  left  by  the  captayne,  which  he 
tooke  in.  This  yeare  the  Hull  men  set  a  small  ship 
or  two  to  the  eastwards  of  Greenland,  for  the  Hull 
men  still  followed  the  steps  of  the  Londoners,  and  in 
a  yeare  or  two  called  it  their  discoverie,  which  is  false, 
and  untrue,  as  by  oath  in  the  Admiraltie  doth  ap- 
peare.  The  Dutch  likewise  practice  the  same  course." 
The  Dutch  -whalefisheries,  unlike  those  of  the 
English,  became  the  source  of  great  national  wealth. 
An  immense  capital  was  invested  in  the  business,  and 
it  was  carried  on  with  characteristic  prudence,  dili- 
gence, and  consequent  success.  A  settlement  was 
founded  at  the  Smeerenberg  Bay  at  the  north-west 
corner  of  Spitzbergen,  where  the  requisite  apparatus 
for  extracting  oil  and  bone  was  erected  on  an  immense 
scale.     Durinsr    the 


summer, 


Smeerenberg 


was 


crowded  and  populous  village,  and  in  this  dreary 
corner  of  the  world  were  to  be  found  many  of  the 
luxuries  of  civilized  life. 

But  a  change  came  over  Smeerenberg.  Gradually 
and  at  last  almost  entirely  the  whales, deserted  its  bay 
and  sought  refuge  in  distant  waters.  Thither  their  pur- 
suers followed  them,  and  at  last,  finding  the  expense 
and  delay  of  conveying  their  prizes  to  Smeerenberg 
too  onerous,  they  contrived  an  arrangement  by 
which  the  whale,  being  fastened  to  the  sides  of  the 
ship,  was  cleared  of  its  blubber  and  bone.  Smeeren- 
beig  then  lost  every  foundation  on  which  its  pros- 
perity had  rested.  The  furnaces,  tanks  and  other 
8 


filii, 


I,  j^^- 


128 


A    WINTER   IN   8PITZBERGKN. 


articles  were  caiTied  away,  and  it  is  now  difficult  to 
trace  the  spot  on  whicli  stood  that  once  flourishing 
village,  in  whose  bay  there  had  sometimes  been  as 
many  as  two  hundred  vessels. 

In  1633,  the  Dutch  planned  another  settlement  fur- 
ther to  the  north,  and  seven  sailors  volunteered  for 
this  arduous  undertaking.  On  the  30th  of  August 
the  fleet  left  them  in  North  Bay,  where  they  not  only 
undertook  to  live  during  the  winter,  but  even  to  pro- 
vide themselves  with  fresh  provisions.  They  visited 
all  the  surrounding  shores,  took  three  reindeer  and  a 
number  of  sea-swallows,  collecting  also  a  great  quan- 
tity of  a  species  of  watercress.  Their  great  ambition 
was  to  catch  a  whale ;  but,  though  tantalized  by  the 
sight  of  many,  all  their  attempts  failed. 

Severe  cold  began  to  be  felt  in  October,  and  on  the 
15th,  only  a  small  portion  of  the  sun's  disk  could  be 
seen  above  the  horizon,  and  in  a  few  days  it  entirely 
disappeared ;  there  was  still  a  faint  twilight  of  eight 
hours,  which  was  soon  reduced  to  five,  and  became 
every  day  shorter  and  shoi'ter.  In  November,  the 
cold  increased  to  the  utmost  pitch ;  they  could  not 
sleep  in  their  beds,  but  were  ol)liged  either  to  crouch 
over  the  fire,  or  run  full  speed  through  the  hut,  to 
keep  up  the  vital  energ}'.  At  length  they  ranged  all 
their  couches  round  the  fire-place  and  a  stove,  yet  still 
found  it  necessary  to  lay  themselves  down  between 
the  stove  and  the  fire,  holding  their  feet  to  the  very 
embers. 

Night  and  winter  continued  in  their  utmost  inten- 
sity till  the  22d  of  January,  when  they  again  enjoyed 
a  twilight  of  six  hours ;  at  midday  of  the  2Gth,  there 
was  no  longer  a  star  to  be  seen ;  but  it  was  on  the 
2  2d  of  February  ere,  from  a  mountain-top,  they  could 


"fighting  the  tiger." 


120 


descry  any  portion  of  the  sun's  disk.  Throughout 
the  whole  period  they  had  dreadful  contests  with  the 
Polar  bear. 

Thus  these  seven  persons  passed  through  this  hard 
winter  without  any  severe  attack  of  scurvy ;  and  on 
the  27th  of  May  they  were  overjoyed  by  the  view  of 
a  boat,  which  conveyed  them  to  a  neighboring  bay, 
where  seven  Dutch  ships  had  assembled  for  the  fishery. 

The  success  of  this  experiment  induced  the  Dutch 
Company  to  repeat  the  attempt  in  the  following  year, 
when  seven  other  sailors,  well  furnished  with  victuals, 
and  apparently  with  every  means  of  withstanding  the 
rigor  of  the  climate,  undertook  to  winter  in  Spitz- 
bergen.  They  appear,  however,  to  have  been  of  a 
less  active  disposition  than  their  predecessors,  and 
failed  in  every  attempt  to  procure  fresh  victuals. 
The  sun  having  quitted  them  on  the  20tli  of  October, 
they  shut  themselves  up  in  their  hut,  out  of  which 
they  scarcely  ever  stirred.  In  a  few  weeks  they  were 
attacked  by  scurvy  under  its  most  malignant  form, 
which,  amid  this  recluse  life,  and  in  the  absence  of 
fresh  meat  and  vegetables,  assumed  continually  a 
more  alarming  type,  till  three  died,  whose  bodies  the 
others  with  difficulty  enclosed  in  coffins.  The  sur- 
vivors killed  a  dog  and  a  fox,  which  afforded  some 
relief,  but  not  enough  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the 
malady.  The  ))ear8  began  to  approach  the  hut,  and 
would  have  been  a  blessing,  had  the  men  retained 
strength  either  to  shoot  the  animals  or  to  drag  home 
the  carcass.  The  sun  appeared  on  the  2-ith  of  Feb- 
ruary ;  but  they  could  no  longer  derive  aid  from  this 
benignant  luminary.  The  last  entry  in  their  journal 
is  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  We  are  all  four  stretched  on  our  beds,  and  are 


'ir 


t-    'i'<-^ 


4     :4!-( 


:ii  .t  ■  ^ 


130 


AN   ARCTIC   TRAGEDY. 


li 


l'<i: 


m 
¥• 

WW' 

hi! 


V 


i: 


still  alive,  and  would  eat  willingly,  if  any  one  of  us 
were  able  to  rise  and  light  a  fire.  We  implore  the 
Almighty,  with  folded  hands,  to  deliver  us  from  this 
life,  which  it  is  impossible  to  prolong  without  food  or 
any  thing  to  warm  our  frozen  limbs.  None  of  us  can 
help  the  other,  each  must  suppoii  his  own  misery." 

Early  in  spring  the  fishing  vessels  an-ived,  and  a 
party  hastened  to  the  hut.  They  found  it  so  fast 
closed,  that  an  entrance  could  only  be  effected  by 
opening  the  roof.  They  found  it  a  tomb.  Three  of 
the  men  were  enclosed  in  the  coflSns  which  had  been 
framed  for  them  ;  the  other  four  lay  dead,  two  in  their 
beds,  and  two  on  a  piece  of  sail  spread  on  the  floor. 
These  last  had  perished  in  consequence  of  mere  ina- 
bility to  make  the  effort  necessary  for  lifting  and 
dressing  the  food. 

About  the  same  time  the  Dutch  made  an  attempt 
to  establish  a  colony  on  Jan  Mayen  Island,  but  with 
a  result  equally  fatal.  The  journal  of  the  unfortunate 
seamen  contains  little  except  a  register  of  the  weather. 

The  next  instance  of  wintering  in  Spitzbergen  arose 
from  necessity  and  disaster.  A  Russian  vessel  which 
Lad  sailed  from  Archangel  for  the  whale-fisheiy  in 
1743,  being  driven  by  the  wind  to  the  eastern  coast 
of  Spitzbergen,  found  itself  beset  amid  floating  ice 
Avithout  hope  of  deliverance.  One  of  the  party  recol- 
lected that  a  hut  had  been  erected  on  this  coast  by 
some  of  his  countrymen,  under  the  apprehension  of 
being  obliged  to  spend  the  winter  there.  He  and 
three  others  set  out  to  discover  the  place.  With 
much  difllculty  they  reached  the  shore,  leaping  from 
fragment  to  fragment  of  moving  ice ;  then,  spread- 
ing themselves  in  different  directions,  they  found  the 
cottage,  which,  though  ruinous,  afforded  shelter  for 
the  night. 


ii 


ADVENTURES   OP   RUSSIAN   WnALEMEN. 


131 


Early  in  the  morning  they  liastened  to  the  shore, 
to  convey  to  their  comrades  this  happ}-  intelligence. 
But  what  must  have  been  their  horror,  when  they  saw 
only  a  vast  open  sea,  without  a  vestigf  of  the  sliip,  or 
even  of  the  numerous  icebergs  which  had  been  toss- 
ing through  the  waves  !  A  violent  gale  h;id  dispersed 
them  all,  and  apparently  also  sunk  the  vessel,  which 
was  never  heard  of  more. 

These  four  unfortunate  seamen,  abandoned  on  this 
dreadful  shore,  having  the  long  winter  to  pass  with- 
out food,  or  arms  and  implements  to  procure  any,  did 
not,  however,  give  way  to  despair.  They  had  a  gun 
with  which  they  sL  t  twelve  deer;  then  theii-  ammu- 
nition failed ;  but  some  pieces  of  iron  were  found  on 
the  shore,  which  they  contrived  to  fashion  into  pikes. 
At  the  moment  when  their  stock  of  venison  was 
nearly  exhausted,  they  found  occasion  to  employ 
these  weapons  against  a  Polar  bear  by  w  hich  they 
were  assailed.  The  animal,  being  vanquished  and 
killed  after  a  formidable  struggle,  supplied  for  the 
present  all  their  wants.  His  flesh  was  food,  his  skin 
clothing,  his  entrails,  duly  prepared,  furnished  the 
string  which  alone  had  been  wanting  to  complete  a 
bow.  With  that  instrument  they  were  more  than  a 
match  for  tlie  reindeer  and  the  Ai'ctic  fox,  with  the 
spoils  of  which  they  filled  both  their  pantry  and  their 
wardrobe ;  and  thenceforth  they  avoided,  unless  in 
cases  of  necessity,  the  encounter  of  the  bear.  Being 
destitute  of  cooking  utensils,  they  were  oldiged  to 
devour  the  food  nearly  raw — dried  either  by  suspen- 
sion in  the  smoke  during  tlie  long  winter,  or  by  ex- 
posure to  the  heat  of  the  sun  during  the  short 
summer.  Yet  this  regular  supply  of  fresh  meat) 
and,  above  all,  the  constant  exercise  to  which  neces- 


{■'  f  IP 


|.;!!^ 


'■Mi 


:l '  : 


;     I: 


132 


SIX   YEARS   OF  PERIL. 


sity  prompted,  enabled  them  to  preserve  their  health 
entire  during  six  yeai-s,  in  which  they  looked  in  vain 
for  deliverance.  In  this  time  they  killed  ten  bears, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  reindeer,  and  a  multitude  of 
foxes. 

At  the  end  of  the  six  years  one  of  the  men  died,  when 
the  three  survivors  sunk  into  despondence,  giving  up 
all  hopes  of  relief,  and  looking  forward  to  the  mo- 
ment when  the  last  of  them  would  become  the  prey 
of  the  bears.  Suddenly,  on  the  loth  of  August,  1 749, 
they  descried  a  vessel  at  sea.  They  lighted  fires  on 
the  heights,  hoisted  a  flag  formed  of  icindeer  skins, 
and  were  at  length  discovered  by  the  ship,  which 
proved   to   belong   to  their   native   country. 

The  example  thus  involuntarily  set  by  these  Rus- 
sian sailors  has  been  followed,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  by  their  countrymen,  some  of  whom  have 
since  regularly  wintered  in  huts  on  the  Spitsbergen 
coast,  and  employed  themselves  in  chasing  the  walrus 
and  seal  along  the  shore,  the  deer  and  Arctic  fox  in 
the  interior.  They  are  constantly  engaged  in  hunt- 
ing, unless  when  interrupted  by  tempest ;  and,  even 
when  the  hut  is  blocked  up  -with  snow,  they  find 
their  way  out  by  the  chimney. 

Commodore  Jansen,  of  tLe  Dutch  Navy,  makes  the 
following  interesting  remarks  on  the  Spitzbergen 
fisheiy  of  his  countrymen  : — "When  our  whalers  first 
came  to  Spitzbergen,  they  met  with  the  whales  in 
great  quantities,  enjoying  all  the  luxury  of  this  most 
exquisite  feeding-ground,  the  best  perhaps  in  the 
whole  Arctic  region.  The  whales  were  found  sport- 
ing in  open  water  off  shore,  with  their  hu^e  backs 
above  water,  or  taking  their  siesta  in  a  cali.i  bay, 
surrounded  by  abundance  of  food.     This  was  u  most 


THE  WHALE  8  PARADISE. 


133 


glorious  time  for  whales — the  paradise  of  their  history. 
In  spite  of  the  yearly  increase  of  whalers,  and  the 
great  number  of  whales  that  were  killed  on  the  same 
spot,  they  always  resorted  to  this  favorite  ground. 

"During  this  first  period,  called  the  'Shore  Fish- 
eiy,'  we  had  an  oil-boiling  establishment  at  Smee^'en- 
burg,  on  Amsterdam  Island.  Every  year  our  whalers 
went  straight  to  this  i'-land ;  each  vessel  had  six  or 
seven  boats,  and  u  large  complement  of  men,  who 
were  employed  in  killing  whales,  bringing  them 
ashore,  and  making  oil  as  fast  as  possible.  Thousands 
and  tliousands  of  whales  were  killed,  and  at  last, 
from  about  1G40-50,  they  ceased  for  a  time  to  come 
at  all  to  the  west  coast  of  Spitzbergen.  As  soon  as 
the  scarcity  of  whales  was  felt,  the  directors  of  the 
Dutch  Whaling  Company  made  great  efforts  to  follow 
them  to  their  place  of  retreat.  Several  ships  were 
sent  out  on  exploring  expeditions,  but  they  did  not 
find  any  islands  besides  those  round  Spitzl)ergen,  nor 
any  whaling-ground  as  easy  and  profitable  as  Smeer- 
enburg  and  its  vicinity  had  been." 

The  year  1777  was  one  which  exhibited,  on  a  large 
scale,  all  the  vicissitudes  of  this  occupation.  Captain 
Broerties,  in  the  Guillamine,  arrived  that  year  on  the 
22d  of  Jup/^  at  the  great  bank  of  northern  ice,  where 
he  found  fifty  vessels  moored  and  busied  in  the  fisheiy. 
The  day  after,  a  tempest  drove  in  the  ice  with  such 
v^iolence  that  twenty-seven  of  the  ships  were  beset, 
of  which  ten  were,  lost.  The  Guillamine  with  four 
other  ships,  succeeded  in  reaching  a  narrow  basin, 
enclosed  by  icy  barriers  on  every  side. 

On  the  1st  of  August  the  ice  began  to  gather  thick, 
and  a  violent  storm  driving  it  against  the  vessels, 
placed  them  in  great  peril  for  a  number  of  days.     On 


134 


8mPWRT:0KS. 


the  20th,  a  dreadful  gale  arose  from  the  north-east,  in 
which  the  Guillamine  suffered  considerable  damage. 
In  this  awful  tempest,  out  of  the  5ive  ships  two  went 
down,  a  third  sprung  a  leak,  and  tlieir  crews  were 
taken  on  hoard  of  the  two  remain ino;  harks. 

On  the  2oth  these  were  completely  frozen  in,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  send  a  party  of  twelve  men  to  seek 
aid  from  four  vessels  which  a  few  days  before  had 
been  driven  into  a  station  at  a  little  distance ;  but  by 
the  time  of  their  arrival,  two  of  these  had  been  dashed 
to  pieces,  and  the  others  were  in  the  most  deplorable 
condition. 

Mejintime  the  Guillamine  and  her  companions 
drifted  in  sight  of  Gale  Hamkes'  Land,  in  Greenland, 
and  tlie  tempest  still  pushing  them  gradually  to  the 
southward,  Iceland  at  length  appeared  on  their  left. 
The  crews  were  beginning  to  hope  that  they  might 
reach  a  harbor,  when,  on  the  13th  of  September,  a 
whole  mountain  of  ice  fell  upon  thu  Guillamine. 
The  men,  half  naked,  leaped  out  upon  the  frozen  sur- 
face, saving  Avith  difficulty  a  small  portion  of  their 
provisions.  The  broken  remnants  of  the  vessel  wee 
soon  buried  under  enormous  piles  of  ice.  By  leaping 
from  one  fragment  of  ice  to  another,  the  men  contrived 
to  reach  the  other  vessel,  which,  though  in  extreme 
distress,  received  them  on  board.  Shattered  and 
overcrowded,  she  was  obliged  immediately  after  to 
accommodate  fifty  other  seamen,  the  crew  of  another 
vessel  which  had  just  gone  down,  the  chief  har- 
pooner  and  twelve  of  the  mariners  having  perished. 
These  numerous  companies,  squeezed  into  one  crazy 
bark,  suffered  every  kind  of  distress,  and  famine,  in 
its  most  direful  forms,  began  to  stare  them  in  the 
face. 


MEMORIALS   OF   THE   HOLLANDERS. 


135 


All  remoter  fears,  however,  gave  way,  when  in 
October,  the  vessel  went  to  pieces  ic  .  Je  same  sud- 
den manner  as  the  others,  leaving  to  the  unfortunate 
sailors  scarcely  time  enough  to  leap  upon  the  ice 
with  their  remaining  stores.  With  great  difficulty 
they  reached  a  field  of  some  extent,  and  contrived 
with  their  torn  sails  to  rear  a  sort  of  covering ;  but, 
sensible  that,  by  remaining  on  this  desolate  spot,  they 
must  certainly  perish,  they  saw  no  safety  excej)t  in 
scrambling  over  the  frozen  surface  to  the  coast  of 
Greenland,  which  was  in  view.  AVitli  infinite  toil 
they  effected  their  object,  and  happily  met  some 
inhabitants  who  received  them  hospitably,  and 
regaled  tliem  Avith  dried  fish  and  seals'  flesh.  Thence 
they  pushed  across  that  dreary  region,  treated  some- 
times Avell,  sometimes  churlishly ;  but  by  one  means 
or  other  they  succeeded  at  length,  on  the  IBth  of 
March,  in  reaching  the  Danish  settlement  of  Frede- 
rikshaab,  where  they  were  received  with  the  utmost 
kindness. 

The  whaling  trade  of  the  Hollanders  gradiLally  came 
to  an  end  in  the  last  half  of  the  last  century.  Many 
names  roun<l  the  Spitzbergen  shores,  and  large  num- 
bers of  graves,  remain  as  memorials  of  theii-  furmar 
hardihood. 


1       Sr. 


m 


1  « 


)  t 


1^ 


I 


'  I 


I.  n 


M    y 


' 


CHAPTER  IX„ 

THE  ARCTIC  WHALE-FISHERY. 

(continued.) 

In  1719  the  Dutch  opened  a  w'liule-fishery  in 
Davis'  Strait,  wliich  proved  very  remunerative  and 
comparatively  sate;  for,  in  a  period  of  sixty  years, 
out  of  over  three  thousand  ships  fishing  there,  only 
sixty-two  were  wrecked.  English  whalers  soon 
began  to  frequent  the  same  fishery ;  hut  in  spite  of 
old  William  Baffin's  judicial  advice,  no  vessel  ev^r 
followed  in  his  track  until  1817,  and  the  whales  were 
permitted  to  remain  for  two  centuries  in  tranquil 
enjoyment  of  the  North  Water  of  Baffin's  Bay. 
Baffin  h.'id  gallantly  led  the  way  thither  and  no  man 
had  dared  to  follow  him.  At  last  two  English  w^halers 
successfully  passed  the  middle  pack,  and  found 
whales  so  plenty  that  from  that  day  to  (his,  very  few 
years  have  passed  during  which  whalers  have  not 
forced  that  bari'ier. 

Melville  Bay  used  to  be  a  place  of  dread  and  anxi- 
ety for  the  whaling  fleet;  for  when  a  southerly  wind 
brought  tlie  drifting  pack  in  violent  and  irresistil)le 
contact  Avith  the  land-floe,  the  ships,  slowly  cree})ing 
ah)ng  its  edge,  were  frequently  crushed  like  so  many 
walnuts.     In   lbl9,  as  many  as  fourteen  shij^s  were 

13G 


WHALING  DISASTERS  IN  MELVILLE  BAY. 


137 


smashed  to  pieces  in  this  way;  in  1821,  eleven;  and 
in  1822,  seven. 

The  year  1830  was  the  great  season  of  disaster  for 
the  whalers,  for  nineteen  ships  were  entirely  destroyed, 
occasioning  immense  loss.  On  the  19th  of  June,  a 
fresh  gale  from  the  south-west  drove  masses  of  ice 
into  Melville  Bay,  and  nipped  the  whole  fleet  against 
the  land-floe,  about  forty  miles  to  the  southward  of 
Gape  York.  In  the  evening  the  gale  increased,  and 
the  floes  began  to  overlap  each  other.  A  huge  floe 
then  came  down  upon  the  devoted  ships,  and  a  scene 
of  indescribable  horror  ensued.  In  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  several  fine  ships  were  converted  into  shattered 
fragments ;  the  ice,  with  a  loud  grinding  noise,  tore 
open  their  sides,  masts  were  seen  falling  in  all  direc- 
tions, great  ships  were  squeezed  flat  and  thrown 
broadside  on  to  the  ice,  and  one  whaler,  the  "  Rattler," 
was  literally  turned  inside  out.  The  shipwrecked 
sailors  only  just  had  time  to  jump  on  the  ice,  and 
take  refuge  on  board  their  more  fortunate  consorts — 
for  even  in  1830  several  ships  escaped  by  digging 
deep  docks  in  the  land  ice.  It  must  be  under- 
stood that  there  is  little  danger  of  loss  of  life  in 
Melville  Bay,  for  even  if  a  solitary  whaler  is  de- 
stroyed, when  no  other  is  in  sight,  the  retreat  in 
boats  to  the  Danish  settlements  is  generally  prac- 
ticable and  easy.  When  the  fearful  catastrophe 
occurred  in  1830,  there  were  a  thousand  men  en- 
camped on  the  ice,  the  clusters  of  tents  were  a  scene 
of  joyous  dancing  and  frolic,  for  Jack  mia  got  a 
holi(hiy,  and  the  season  was  long  remembered  as 
"Bafiin'sFair." 

Tlie  NV'hale-fishery  has  been  carried  on  from  the 
United  States  with  greater  vig<jr  and  success  than 


■^       lii! 


'I  1 


ih   : "  I 


m 


M 


ll    '  ■  (  I 


ii  r 


fe:H:i 


> 

* 

\\    :>'     f' 

i; 

1            .  '  » 

■''■ ''      ■    1  ; 

3 

1 

' 

1 

-  ■ '  ■(        ■■■■       '■^.:' 

1 

'i 

1 

3. 

Ui 


188 


YANKEE  WHALEMEN. 


•«  '  v^ 


from  any  other  country,  and  from  an  early  period. 
In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  business 
was  a  very  lucrative  one;  and  several  flourishing 
towns  were  built  up  thereby.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Massachusetts  alone  had 
nearly  two  hundred  vessels  engaged  in  the  northern 
seas,  l)e8ides  many  in  the  southern.  The  great  Eng- 
lish Statesman,  Burke,  in  1774  paid  the  following 
tribute  to  Yankee  enterprise : — 

"  Look  at  the  manner  in  which  the  New  England 
people  carry  on  the  whale-fishery.  While  we  follow 
them  among  the  tumbling  mountains  of  ice  and 
behold  them  penetrating  into  the  deepest  frozen 
recesses  of  Hudson's  Bay  and  Davis  Strait ;  Avhile  we 
are  looking  for  them  beneath  the  Arctic  circle,  we 
hear  that  they  have  pierced  into  the  opposite  region 
of  polar  cold ;  that  they  are  at  the  antipodes,  and 
engaged  under  the  frozen  serpent  of  the  South.  Falk- 
land Island,  which  seenu  i  too  remote  and  too  roman- 
tic an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national  ambition,  is 
but  a  stage  and  resting-place  for  their  victorious 
industry.  Nor  is  the  equinoctial  heat  more  discc.ur- 
aging  to  them  than  the  accumulated  winter  of  bof,h 
the  Poles.  We  learn  that  while  some  of  them  draw 
the  line  or  strike  the  harpoon  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
others  run  the  longitude  and  pursue  their  gigantic 
game  along  the  coast  of  Brazil," 

The  war  put  a  temporary  stop  to  the  whaling  bus- 
iness of  the  United  States,  but  it  was  renewed  with 
energy  as  soon  as  peace  was  declared,  and  again 
broken  up  by  the  war  of  1812.  Its  recovery  was, 
however,  rapid.  In  1844,  the  American  ^hnling 
fleet  comprised  six  hundred  and  fifty  vessels,  manned 
by  over  seventeen  thousand  men.  while  the  English 


THE   DUNDEE   WHALING    STEAMEKS. 


139 


fleet  at  the  same  date  numbered  only  eighty-five  ves- 
sels. In  1849,  the  American  whaling  fleet  was  nearly 
as  large  as  in  1844.  The  Northern  Pacific,  extend- 
ing from  the  coast  of  America  to  Kamchatka,  was  at 
that  time  the  great  harvest  field  of  American  whalers, 
and  Bering  Strait,  and  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  which  it 
leads  have  since  been  visited  by  intrepid  Americaa 
whalemen. 

Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  whales,  the  use  of  gas, 
and  the  discovery  of  petroleum,  the  whaling  business 
of  the  United  States  has  dwindled  down  to  very 
small  proportions  compared  with  what  it  once  was. 
Dangers,  disasters,  and  sufferings  are,  however,  still 
incident  to  the  profession.  In  1871,  the  North-^vest 
whaling  fleet  was  shut  in  by  the  ice,  and  many  of 
the  ships  had  to  be  abandoned.  Quite  recently  three 
New  Bedford  whalers  have  been  lost  in  Hudson's 
Bay,  and  another  which  has  just  returned  A\'as  impris- 
oned thirteen  months  amid  the  desolations  of  Repulse 
Bay. 

Although  never  wholly  abandoned,  the  whaling 
trade  of  Great  Britain  fluctuated  for  many  years ; 
until  it  was  found  that  an  Indian  fibre,  when  manip- 
ulated with  whale  oil,  could  be  manufactured  into  a 
great  variety  of  useful  fabrics..  The  extension  t»f  the 
manufacture  of  jute  in  Dundee,  Scotland,  CiUised  the 
revival  of  the  whale-fishery  in  Bafiin's  Bay.  A  mil- 
lion bales  of  jute  are  now  annually  imported  into 
Dundee,  ecjual  to  one  hundred  and  forty-three  thou- 
sano  tons ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  whale  oil  is  required 
by  the  jute  manufacturers  of  Dundee  and  the  neigh- 
l)orhood.  Tims  the  port  of  Dundee  has  now  become 
the  centre  of  the  English  whale-fishing  trade ;  and  car- 
goes of  oil  fi  om  the  Arctic  regions  may  bo  seen  dis- 


I  k 


mU 


i\  M 


140 


RESCUE   Oil"   THE   POLARIS    CREW. 


charging  alongside  of  cargoes  of  jute  from  Calcutta, 
both  being  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  port.  Of 
late  years  steam  has  made  a  great  change  in  naviga- 
tion, and  the  steam  whalers  are  not  exposed  to  the 
same  risks  and  detentions  as  fall  to  the  lot  of  sailing 
shij^s.  The  first  steam  whaler  sailed  from  Dundee  in 
1858,  and  now  a  whaling  fleet  of  ten  steamers  leaves 
every  spring  for  Baffin's  Bay  and  returns  in  the  fall. 
Each  carries  eight  whale  boats,  manned  by  nearly 
the  whole  crew  of  sixty  men ;  for  few  remain  on  the 
ship  Avhen  the  cry  of  "  There  she  spouts ! "  is  heard. 
It  was  a  steamer  of  this  line,  the  Ravenscraig, 
which  rescued  the  crew  of  the  wrecked  Polaris,  and 
the  party  were  carried  to  Dundee  in  two  others,  the 
Intrepid  and  the  Arctic.  The  latter  steamer  had,  dur- 
ing her  trip,  penetrated  into  the  Gulf  of  Boothia. 


a    t      ( 


V'l 


CHAPTER    X. 

CRUISE    OF    THE    ISABELLA    AND    ALEX- 
ANDER. 

(jOim   BOSS — PARRY.) 

The  Northern  seas,  as  a  theatre  of  adventure,. had 
been  unoccupied  for  haK  a  century,  and  the  grand 
question  in  which  England  had  taken  so  deep  an  in- 
terest was  still  open.  For  several  years  preceding 
1818,  vast  masses  of  ice  had  floated  down  from  the 
regions  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  an  unusual  opportunity 
of  discovering  a  North-west  passage  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  seemed  to  present  itself. 

In  that  year  the  English  government  fitted  out  two 
expeditions ;  oue  to  search  for  the  North-west  passage, 
the  other  to  attempt  a  voyage  across  tlie  Pole.  The 
first  consisted  of  the  Isabella  of  385  tons,  commanded 
by  Captain  John  Ross,  an  officer  of  reputation  and 
experience,  who  had  twice  wintei'ed  in  the  Baltic,  had 
been  em[)loyed  in  surveying  tlie  AVhite  Sea,  and  been 
as  far  north  as  Bear  Island ;  and  the  Alexander  of 
252  tons,  oommanded  by  Lieutenant  AVm.  E.  Parry, 
afterwards  famous  as  an  Arctic  explorer. 

On  the  18th  of  April  the  vessels  left  tlu^  Thames, 
and  on  the  27th  of  May  came  in  view  of  Cape  Fare- 
well, round  which  as  usual  were  floating  numerous 
and  lofty  icebergs  of  the  most  varied  fonns  and  tints. 

141 


('A 


■    ! 


142 


A   DANISU   BEAUTY. 


■u  i; 


>  ( 


i  i 


On  tlie  14tli  of  June  tliey  readied  tlie  Whale  Islands, 
where  they  were  informed  by  the  governor  of  the 
Danish  settlement,  that  the  past  winter  had  been  un- 
commonly severe — the  neighboring  bays  and  straits 
having  been  all  frozen  two  months  earlier  than  usual — 
and  that  some  of  the  channels  northward  of  his  station 
were  still  bound  in  with  ice. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  an  impenetrable  barrier  of  ice 
stopping  their  course,  they  fastened  to  an  iceberg  hav- 
ing foity-five  whale-ships  in  comj)any.  At  length  the 
ice  attached  to  the  eastern  shore  broke  up,  though 
still  forming  a  continuous  rampart  at  some  distance 
to  the  westward,  but  in  the  intermediate  space  they 
were  enabled  to  move  forward  slowly  along  the  coast, 
laboring  through  narrow  and  intricate  channels  amid 
mountains  and  loose  fragments  of  ice  near  the  Danish 
settlement.  Their  detention  had  not  lacked  amuse- 
ment ;  the  half-caste  sons  and  daughters  of  Danes  and 
Esquimaux  danced  Scotch  reels  with  the  sailors  on 
the  deck  of  the  Isabella ;  Jack  Saccheous,  a  native  of 
Greenland,  Avho  accompanied  the  expedition  as  inter- 
preter, was  master  of  ceremonies. 

A  daughter  of  the  Danish  resident,  about  eighteen 
years  of  age,  and  by  far  the  best  looking  of  the 
grouji,  was  the  object  of  Jack's  particular  attentions ; 
which  being  observed  by  one  of  the  officers,  he  gave 
him  a  lady's  sha\vl,  ornamented  vnth  spangles,  as 
an  offering  for  her  acceptance.  He  presented  it  to 
the  damsel,  who  bashfully  took  a  pewter  ring  from 
her    finger    and   presented   it  to  him  in  return. 

Proceeding  along  a  high  mountainous  coast,  the 
expedition  came  to  a  tribe  of  Esquimaux  who  seem- 
ed to  exist  in  a  state  of  the  deepest  seclusion.  They 
had  never  before  seen  men  belonging  to  the  civilized 


1  •- 


hM 


I   i 


world,   ( 

first   sni; 

sliowed 

as  was  a 

tlie  mere 

cies.     Yt 

tcnwards 

long  kni^ 

caiitly  at 

IIavan< 

from  the 

the  inter] 

should  CO 

his  hand. 

at  length 

and  l)loo(j 

joined.     *; 

number  o 

masters  in 

Ross  aji 

Avard.     TI 

to  retreat ; 

to  pull  the 

accepted. 

seeing  thei 

ishment ; 

moments  ii 

ceeded  by 

The  shi] 

They  begai 

hy  interroo 

l^ii'd,  sprea 

reason.     O 

most  solem 


.  '  1 


A  SECLUDED   RACE. 


145 


world,  or  of  a  race  different  from  tlu'lr  own.  Tlie 
first  small  ])arty  whom  the  nuvigatorn  a2)pi'()aelied 
showed  every  sign  of  the  deepest  ahu-m ;  dieading, 
as  was  afterward  understood,  a  fatal  inihience  from 
the  mere  touch  of  these  beings  of  an  unknown  spe- 
cies. Yet  they  seem  to  have  felt  a  secret  attraction 
towards  the  strangers,  and  advanced,  holding  fast  the 
long  knives  lodged  in  theii*  boots,  and  looking  signifi' 
cantly  at  each  other. 

Having  come  to  a  chasm  which  separated  them 
from  the  English,  they  made  earnest  signs  that  only 
the  interpreter,  who  bore  a  resemblance  to  themselves, 
should  come  across.  He  went  forward  and  offered 
his  hand.  They  shrunk  back  for  some  time  in  alarm ; 
at  length  the  boldest  touched  it,  and  finding  it  flesh 
and  blood  set  up  a  loud  shout,  which  tlu'ee  others 
joined.  The  rest  of  the  party  then  came  up,  to  the 
nund)er  of  eight,  with  fifty  dogs  which  helped  their 
masters  in  raising  a  tremendous  clamor. 

Ross  a)id  Parry  now  thought  it  tim6  to  come  for- 
Avard.  This  movement  excited  alarm  and  a  tendency 
to  retreat ;  but  Saccheous  having  taught  these  officers 
to  pull  their  noses,  this  sign  of  amity  was  gi'aciously 
accepted.  A  mirror  was  now  held  up  to  them,  and  on 
seeing  their  faces  in  it  they  showed  the  greatest  aston- 
ishment ;  they  looked  around  on  each  other  a  few 
moments  in  sileix^'e,  thon  set  up  a  general  shout,  suc- 
ceeded by  a  loud  laugh  of  delight  and  surprise. 

The  ship  was  the  next  object  of  their  si)eculation. 
They  began  by  endeavoring  to  ascertain  its  nature 
l)y  interrogating  it,  for  they  conceived  it  to  be  a  huge 
bird,  spreading  its  vast  wings  and  endowed  with 
reason.  One  of  them,  pulling  his  nose  with  the  ut- 
most solemnity,  bejjan  an  address  : 


f 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
I  EST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


hi.  |28     1 2.5 
22 


2.0 


1.8 


1.25      1.4 

1'-* 

^ 

6"     — 

^ 

Pnotographic 

Sciences 
Corpordtion 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  873-4503 


.<'"^-'* 


«o 


146 


ESQUIMAUX   IDEAS   OF  A   SHIP. 


'. 


"  Who  are  you  ?  Whence  come  you  ?  Is  it  fi-om 
the  sun  or  the  moon  ?" 

The  ship  remaining  silent,  they  at  length  applied 
to  Saccheous,  who  assured  them  that  it  wjis  a  frame  of 
timber,  the  work  of  liuman  art.  To  them,  however, 
who  had  never  seen  any  wood  but  slight  twigs  and 
stunted  heath,  its  immense  planks  and  masts  Avere  ob- 
jects of  amazement.  What  animal,  they  also  asked, 
could  furnish  those  enormous  skiiis  which  wei*e  8i)read 
for  the  sails. 

Their  admiration  was  soon  followed  by  a  desire  to 
possess  some  of  the  objects  which  met  their  eyes,  but 
with  little  discrimination  as  to  the  means  of  effecting 
their  end.  They  attempted  firet  a  spai-e  topmast,  then 
an  anchor;  and  these  ju-oving  too  ponderous,  one  of 
them  ti-ied  the  smith's  anvil ;  but  finding  it  fixed,  made 
off  with  the  large  hammer.  Another  wonder  for 
them  was  to  see  the  sailors  mounting  to  the  toj)ma8t  • 
nor  was  it  without  much  hesitation  tliat  th\  y  ventured 
their  own  feet  in  the  shrouds.  A  little  teirier  dog 
appeared  to  them  a  contemptible  object,  wholly  unfit 
for  drawing  bunlens  or  being  yoked  in  a  sledge,  while 
the  gi'unt  of  a  hog  filled  them  with  alarm. 

These  Esquimaux  had  a  king  who  ruled  neemiu'fly 
with  gentle  sway ;  for  they  described  him  as  strong, 
very  goml  and  very  much  beloved.  The  discovered 
did  not  visit  the  court  of  this  Arctic  potentate ;  but  they 
understood  that  he  drew  a  tribute,  consisting  of  train- 
oil,  sealskins,  and  the  bone  of  the  unicorn.  Like 
other  Greenlanders,  they  had  sledges  drawn  by  large 
and  powerful  teams  of  dogs.  They  rejec^ted  with  hor- 
ror biscuit,  sweetmeats  and  spirits;  train-oil,  as  it 
streamed  from  the  seal  and  the  unicorn,  alone  grati- 
fied their  palate.     Captain  Ross,  swayed  by  national 


pplied 


OAPK    I8AUF.LLA 


•■AI'K    ALKXAMlIK 


TH£   ARCTIC   HIOHLAin>SBS. 


149 


impressions,  gave  to  this  tribe  the  name  of  Arctic 
Highlanders.  In  the  northern  part  of  this  coast  the 
navigators  observed  a  remarkable  phenomenon, — a 
range  of  cliffs,  the  snowy  covering  of  which  had  ex- 
changed its  native  white  for  a  tint  of  dark  crimson. 
The  latest  ob?  jrvations  have  established  its  vegetable 


oriorm. 


Having  now  passed  Cape  Dudley  Digges,  Captain 
Ross  found  himself  among  those  spacious  sounds 
which  Baffin  had  named  but  so  imperfectly  described. 
He  seems,  however,  to  have  followed  the  same  hasty 
method.  He  sailed  past  Wolstenholme  and  Whale 
Sounds  without  even  approaching  their  entrance, 
concluding  them  to  be  blocked  up  with  ice,  and  to  af- 
ford no  hope  of  a  passage.  Eoss  next  came  to  Smith's 
Sound,  which  Baffin  had  described  as  the  most  spa- 
cious and  pi-oraising  of  the  whole  circuit  of  these  coasts. 
It  was  viewed  with  greater  attention  ;  but  believed  to 
be  completely  enclosed  by  land.  The  two  capes  at 
its  entrance  were  named  after  the  ships  Isabella  and 
Alexander.  He  then  came  to  a  spacious  bay,  which 
had  hitherto  been  unknown  and  unobserved,  and 
afterward  to  that  which  Baffin  had  called  Jones's 
S(mnd  ;  but  in  respect  to  both  was  led  to  a  prompt 
and  unfavorable  conclusion. 

On  the  30th  of  August,  the  expedition  came  to  a 
most  magnificent  inlet,  bordered  by  lofty  mountains 
of  peculiar  grandeur,  while  the  water  being  clear  and 
free  from  ice,  presented  so  tempting  an  appearance 
that  it  was  impossible  to  refrain  from  entering.  This 
channel,  which  soon  proved  to  be  the  Lancaster 
Sound  of  Baffin,  was  ascended  for  thirty  miles ;  during 
which  run,  officers  and  men  crowded  the  topmast 
filled  with  enthusiastic  hope,  and  judging  that  it  af- 


n 


:f 


■  i 


4\ 


160 


SIGNAL  OF  EETUBN. 


I 


forded  mucli  fairer  hopes  of  success  than  any  of  those 
so  hastily  passed.  Captain  Ross  however,  and  those 
whom  he  consulted,  never  showed  any  sanguine  ex- 
pectations. He  soon  thought  that  he  discovered  a 
high  ridge  stretching  directly  across  the  inlet ;  and 
though  a  gi'eat  part  of  it  was  deeply  involved  in  mist, 
yet  a  passage  in  this  direction  was  jiidged  to  be  hoj)e- 
less.  The  sea  being  open,  the  ship  proceeded ;  but  an 
officer  came  down  from  the  crow's  nest,  stating  that 
he  had  seen  the  land  stretching  veiy  nearly  across  the 
entire  bay.  Hereupon  it  is  said,  all  hopes  were  re- 
nounced even  by  the  most  sanguine,  and  Captain  Ross 
sailed  onward  merely  for  the  purj)ose  of  making  some 
magnetical  observations. 

At  three  o'clock,  the  sky  having  cleared,  the  com 
mander  himself  went  on  deck,  when  he  states  that  h". 
distinctly  saw  across  the  bottom  of  the  bay  a  chain  of 
mountains  continuous  and  connected  with  those  which 
foi-med  its  opposite  shores.  The  weather  then  becom- 
ing unsettled,  he  made  the  signal  to  steer  the  vessels 
out  of  Lancaster  Sound.  Lieutenant  Parry,  however, 
declares  that  to  him,  in  the  Isabella,  this  signal  a\> 
peared  altogether  mysterious,  beincr  himself  full  of  the 
most  sanguine  expectations,  and  seeing  no  ground 
for  this  abrupt  retreat ;  but  his  duty  t)bliged  him  to 

follow.  •     '}|k 

On  regaining  the  entrance  of  this  great  channel. 
Captain  Ross  continued  to  steer  south\vard  along  the 
western  shore  of  Baffin's  Bay  and  Davis's  Strait,  with- 
out seeing  any  entrance  which  afforded  equal  promise, 
and  returned  home  early  in  October.  >*- 

Ross  arrived  in  England  imder  decided  conviction 
that  Baffin's  observations  had  been  perfectly  correct, 
and  that  Lancaster  Sound  was  a  bay.  „j 


tint    inw.  ij.«Tjut' 


■i'X 


•ijn; 


CHAPTER  XI. 
CRUISE  OF  THE  IIECLA  AND  GRIPER. 

(parry  and  liddon.) 

It  being  detemiined  that  a  new  expedition  should 
he  fitted  out  and  intnisted  to  Lieutenant  Parry,  that 
lie  might  fulfill,  if  possible,  his  own  sanguine  hopes 
and  those  of  his  employers,  he  Avas  furnished  Avith 
the  IIe(!la  of  'i75  tons,  and  a  crew  of  fifty-eight  men; 
and  Avith  the  Griper  gun-brig  of  180  tons  and  thirty- 
six  men,  conunanded  by  Lieutenant  Liddon.  These 
ships  Avere  made  as  strong  and  lus  Avell-fitted  as  possi- 
ble for  the  navigation  of  the  Arctic  seas  ;  and  Avere 
storeil  Avith  ample  pro\isions  for  two  yeai-s,  a  copious 
supply  of  antiscoibutics,  and  eA'ery  thing  Avhich  could 
enable  the  creAvs  to  endure  the  extreme  rigoi-s  of  a 
I\)lar  Avinter. 

Lieutenant  Parry,  destined  to  outstrip  all  his  prede- 
cessora  in  the  career  of  Arctic  discoAery,  left  the Nore 
on  the  nth  of  May,  1S19,  and  on  the  ISth  of  June 
came  in  vieAV  of  the  lofty  cliffs  of  Cai)e  FareAvell.  On 
the  1  Sth  tlie  ships  fii"st  fell  in  with  icebergs,  and  made 
an  effort  to  j)us]i  through  the  icy  masses  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Lancaster  Sound  ;  but  these  suddenly  closed 
upon  him, and  on  the  25th  the  two  ships  Avere  imnioAe- 
ably  beset ;  Ijut  on  the  second  day  the  ice  was  loosened 
and  driven  against  them  Avith  much  A'iolence. 

151 


I 


i; 
•I  ■ 


I  I 


152 


ENTERING   LANCASTER   SOUND. 


Resigning  the  idea  of  reaching  Lancaster  Sound  by 
the  most  direct  route,  the  explorere  coasted  northward 
along  the  border  of  this  great  icy  field  in  search  of 
open  water,  and  proceeded,  till  they  reached  lati- 
tude 75''.  As  ever}'  step  was  now  likely  to  cany 
them  farther  from  their  destination,  Pany  determined 
upon  a  desperate  push  to  the  westwaid ;  and  ])y 
sawing  and  warping,  finally  penetrated  the  icy  barrier 
and  saw  the  western  shore  clear  of  ice  extending  be- 
fore them. 

The  navigators  now  bore  directly  down  upon  Lan- 
caster Sound,  and  on  the  80th  of  July  ft)und  them- 
selves at  its  entrance.  Tliey  felt  an  extraordinary 
emotion  as  they  recognized  this  magnificent  channel, 
with  the  lofty  cliffs  by  whicii  it  was  guarded,  aware 
that  a  very  short  time  would  decide  the  fate  of  their 
grand  undertaking.  They  were  tantalized,  however, 
by  a  iiesh  breeze  coming  directly  down  the  sound, 
which  suffered  them  to  make  only  veiy  slow  progress. 
There  was  no  appenrance,  of  any  obstructions  either 
from  ice  or  land,  and  even  the  heavy  swell  which 
came  down  the  inlet,  driving  the  water  repeatedly  in 
at  the  stem-windows,  was  hailed  as  an  indication  of 
open  sea  to  the  westwai-d. 

On  the  i3d  of  August  an  easterly  breeze  sprung  up, 
carrying  both  vessels  rapidly  forward.  A  croA\d  of 
sail  was  set,  and  they  pushed  triumphantly  to  the 
westward.  Their  minds  were  filled  with  anxious  hope 
and  suspense.  The  mast-heads  were  crowded  w  ith 
officers  and  men,  and  the  successive  reports  brought 
down  from  the  topmast  pinnacle  were  eagerly  listened 
to.  They  passed  various  headlands  with  several  wide 
openings  towards  the  north  and  south,  but  tliese  it 
was  not  their  present  object  to  explore.     The  wind, 


HOPES   AND   DISAPPOIKTMENTg. 


163 


freshening  more  and  more  canied  tliem  liappily  for- 
ward, till  at  niidniglit  tliey  found  tliemselvi's  a  liun* 
dred  and  fifty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  th«  grand  in- 
let, Avhieh  still  retained  a  breadth  of  fifty  miles.  The 
success  of  the  expedition  they  hoi)ed  yvaa  now  to  a 
great  extent  decided. 

The  ships  pnweeded  on  and  found  two  other  inlets, 
then  a  bold  cai)e  named  Fellfoot,  forming  ai)parently 
the  termination  of  this  long  line  of  coast.  The  length- 
ened swell  which  still  rolled  in  from  the  north  and 
west,  with  the  oceiinic  color  of  the  AvatiTs,  ins])ired 
.^'e  lioj)e  that  they  had  already  passed  the  region  of 
straits  and  inlets,  and  were  now  Avafted  along  the 
wide  ex2)anse  of  the  Polar  basin.  Nothing,  it  waa 
supposed,  would  now  obstruct  their  progress  to 
Icy  Cape,  the  western  boundary  of  America.  An 
alarm  of  land  was  given,  but  it  proved  to  be  only 
from  an  island  of  no  great  extent ;  more  land  waa 
soon  discovere<l  beyond  Cape  Fellfoot,  which  waa 
a8certaine<l  to  be  the  headland  to  a  noble  l)ay  extend- 
ing on  their  right,  which  they  named  JVIaxwell  Bay. 

An  uninterrupted  range  of  sea  still  sti'etched  out 
before  them,  though  they  saw  on  the  south  a  line  of 
continuous  ice.  Some  distance  onward  they  discover- 
ed,  with  deep  dismay,  that  this  ice  was  joined  to  impene- 
trable floes,  which  completely  crossed  the  channel 
and  joined  the  western  point  of  Maxwell  Bay.  A  vio- 
lent surf  wjis  beating  along  the  edges,  and  they  drew 
back  to  avoid  entanglen)'jht  in  the  ice 

The  officers  began  to  amuse  themselves  ^vith  fruit- 
less attemj)ts  to  catch  white  whales,  Avhen  the  weather 
cleared,  and  they  saw  to  the  south  an  open  sea  with  a 
dark  water-sky.  Parry,  hoping  that  it  might  lead 
to  a  free  passage  in  a  lower  latitude,  steered  toward 


154 


DREARY   8H0RIIS. 


; 


I 


i 


it,  and  fotmd  himself  at  tlie  moutli  of  a  great 
inlet,  ten  leagues  broad,  with  no  visible  termination ; 
to  the  two  capes  at  its  entrance  he  gave  the  names 
of  Clarence  and  Seppings. 

Finding  the  western  shore  of  this  inlet  deeply  en- 
cumbered with  ice,  they  moved  across  to  the  eastern 
where  was  a  broad  and  open  channel.  The  coast 
was  the  most  dreary  and  desolate  they  had  ever  be- 
held even  in  the  Arctic  world,  j)resenting  scarcely  a 
semblance  either  of  animal  or  vegetable  life.  Navi- 
gation  was  rendered  more  arduous  from  the  iiregular- 
ity  of  the  compass. 

After  sailing  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  up  this 
inlet,  the  increasing  width  of  which  inspired  them 
%vith  corresponding  hopes,  with  extreme  constenuition 
they  suddenly  perceived  the  ice  to  diverge  from  its 
parallel  coui-se,  close  in  and  run  to  a  point  of  land  which 
appeared  to  fonu  the  southern  extiemity  of  the 
eastern  shore.  The  western  honzon  also  appeai'ed 
covered  with  lieavy  and  extensive  floes,  a  bright  and 
dazzling  ice-blink  extending  from  shore  to  shore. 
Pariy  now  detennined  to  return  to  the  old  station, 
and  watch  the  opjjortunity  when  the  relenting  ice 
would  allow  the  ships  to  j)roceed  Avestward. 

On  the  18th,  after  getting  once  more  close  to  the 
northern  shore  the  navigators  began  to  make  a  little 
progress,  ^vhct»  some  showers  of  rain,  accompanied  with 
hea-\y  Avind,  produced  such  an  effect  that  on  the  21st 
the  whole  ice  had  disappeared;  they  could  scarcely 
believe  it  to  be  the  same  sea  which  had  just  ])efoi'e 
been  covered  with  floes  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 

Pariy  now  crowded  all  sail  to  the  Avestward  and 
passed  Beechy  Island ;  after  which  he  reached  a  fine 
and  broad  inlet  leading  to  the  north,  which  he  named 


TiiK  iU!;\VAiU>  i:aunkd. 


155 


Wellington.  The  sea  up  tliis  inlet  being  jKu-fectly 
open  he  would  have  aseendetl  it,  luul  there  not  been 
before  hiiii  an  (»])en  channel  leading  due  west. 

A  favorable  breeze  now  Hpnnig  up,  and  tlie  adven- 
turers passed  gayly  and  triumphantly  along  the  shores 
of  Cornwallis  Island  and  tw<j  suialler  ones.  Thonav- 
i'jfatlou  then  became  extremely  difficult  in  conse(pieuce 
of  thick  fogs,  ■which  not  on.y  froze  on  tlie  slirouda 
but,  as  the  compass  was  useless,  took  away  all  means 
of  knowing  the  direction  in  which  they  sailed.  Tliey 
were  obliged  to  trust  to  the  land  and  ice  preserving 
the  same  line,  and  sometimes  em])l<>yed  the  most  odd 
expedients  for  ascertaining  the  ])recise  point. 

Pushing  westward  thn)ugh  many  obstacles  they  at 
length  reached  the  coast  of  an  island  larger  than  any 
before  discovered,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Melville.  Tlic  wind  now  failed,  and  they  slowly 
moved  forward  by  towing  and  warping,  till,  on  the 
4th  of  September,  Parry  announced  to  his  joyful  crew, 
that,  having  reached  the  longitude  of  110''  W.,  they 
had  become  entitled  to  the  reward  of  iJnOOO  prom- 
ised by  Parliament  to  the  first  crew  who  should  attain 
that  meri<lian. 

The  mariners  pushed  forward  Avith  redoubled  ardor, 
but  soon  found  their  course  arrested  by  an  impene- 
trable icy  ban'ier.  They  waited  nearly  a  fortnight  in 
hopes  of  overcoming  it,  when  the  young  ice  began 
rapidly  to  form  on  the  surface  of  the  waters,  and 
Parry  was  c(mvinced  that  in  the  event  of  a  single 
hour's  calm  he  would  be  frozen  up  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea.  No  option  was  therefore  left  but  to  return 
to  a  harbor  which  had  been  passed  on  Melville  Island. 
It  Avas  reached  t)n  the  24th,  but  tljey  were  obliged  to 
cut  Uvo  miles  through  a  large  fltie  with  which  it  was 


i 


;  I  > 


150 


Tin:  NORTH  oEonaiAX  tiikatue. 


filled.  Oa  the  2()th,  tlie  ships  were  anchored  at  about 
u  luhle's  length  from  the  l)each,  and  soon  frozen  in. 

The  commander,  finding  liimnelf  and  Inn  sliipH  .shut 
in  forah>ng  an<l  dreary  winter,  devoted  \m  attention, 
Avith  judicious  activity  and  a  nnxture  of  lirmnesH  and 
kindness,  to  mitiirate  those  evils  which  even  in  lower 
latitudes  Lad  often  rendered  an  Arctic  winleriiig  so 
fatal.  It  was  necessary  to  he  very  economical  of  fuel, 
the  snndl  (quantity  of  moss  and  tiii'f  which  coulu  be 
collected  being  too  wet  to  be  of  any  \ise. 

Parry's  plans  for  keei)ingthe  men's  minds  in  a  live- 
ly and  cheerful  state  Avere  original,  and  proved  eifect- 
ive.  Arrangements  were  made  for  the  occasional  per- 
formance of  a  l)la}',  in  a  region  very  remote  certainly 
fnmi  any  to  wlilrh  the  drama  appeared  congenial. 
Beechy  was  nominated  stage-nnmager,  an<l  the  ofliceis 
came  forward  as  amateur  performers.  The  veiy  ex- 
pectation thus  laised  among  the  seamen,  and  the  bus- 
tle of  preparing  a  room  for  the  jmrpose,  were  extreme- 
ly salutary;  and  when  the  North  Georgian  theatre 
Oldened  with  "  Miss  in  her  Teens,"  the  hardy  tars  were 
convulsed  with  lauijhter. 

The  officers  had  another  source  of  amusement  in 
the  North  Ge<»rgia  Gjizette,  of  which  Captain  Sabine 
became  editor,  and  all  Avere  invited  to  conti'ibute  to 
this  chronicle  of  the  frozen  regions.  Even  those  Avho 
hesitated  to  api)ear  as  Avriters,  enlivened  the  circle  by 
Severe  but  gooddnunored  criticisms. 

"  Thus  passed  the  time 
Till,  tlirough  tho  lucid  chambers  of  the  South, 
Looked  out  tho  joyous  Sun." 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  November  that  this  great  orb 
ought  to  have  taken  his  leave ;  but  a  deep  haze  pre- 


I-'2 


i»*^l 


''     Hi''      ! 


THACK       >'    Tilt:    IIKCXA    AMI    UUIl-UU 


U'-  I 


k5 


1        y 


'!  tl 


m^ 


rXURY  S    dill's    IN    WIXTKK    (JfAKTKRS. 


•\V1XTEK    AMUSEMENTS. 


159 


vented  tliem  from  bidding  a  formal  farewell  Amid 
vai'ious  occupations  and  amuaements  the  shortest  day 
came  on  almost  unexjiected,  and  the  seamen  then 
watched  with  pleasure  the  midday  twilight  gradually 
strengthening.  On  the  3d  of  February  the  siui  was 
again  seen  from  the  maintop  of  the  Ilecla.  Tlirough 
the  greatest  depth  of  the  Polar  niglit,  the  officei's,  dur- 
ing the  brief  twilight,  had  taken  a  regular  walk  of 
t^^■o  or  three  houi*s,  although  never  longer  than 
a  mile  lest  they  should  be  overtaken  by  snow-drift. 
There  Avas  a  want  of  objects  to  divei-sify  this  walk. 
A  dreary  monotonous  surface  of  dazzling  white  cover- 
ed land  and  sea:  the  view  oi  the  ships,  the  smoke  as- 
cending from  them,  and  the  sound  of  human  voices, 
which  through  the  calm  and  cold  air  was  carried  to 
an  extraordinary  distance,  alone  gave  any  animation  to 
this  wintry  scene. 

The  officers,  however,  pei"severed  in  their  daily 
walk,  and  exercise  was  also  enforced  upon  the  men, 
who,  even  when  prevented  by  the  weather  from  leav- 
ing the  vessel,  were  made  to  run  round  the  deck, 
keeping  time  to  the  tune  of  an  organ.  This  move- 
ment they  did  not  at  first  entirely  relish ;  but  no  ])iea 
against  it  being  admitted,  they  converted  it  at  last 
into  matter  of  frolic.  By  these  means  health  was 
maintained  on  board  the  ships  to  a  hurprising  degree, 
although  several  of  the  crew  had  symptoms  of 
scurvy  as  early  as  January. 

Further  on  in  the  season  other  cases  of  scurvy  oc- 
curred, Avhich  were  aggravated  by  an  accident.  As 
the  men  were  taking  their  musical  peraml)ulation 
round  the  deck,  a  house  erected  on  shore  and  contain- 
ing a  number  of  the  most  valuable  instruments  was 
seen  to  be  on  fire.     The  crew  instantly  ran,  pulled  off 


1 


160 


FIRE!   FIRE! 


tlie  roof  with  ropes,  knocked  down  a  part  of  the  sides, 
and  being  thus  enabled  to  throw  in  large  quantities 
of  snow  succeeded  in  subduing  the  flames.  But  their 
faces  now  presented  a  curious  spectacle  ;  every  nose 
and  cheek  was  white  with  frost-bites,  and  had  to  be 
rubbed  with  snow  to  restore  circulation.  No  less 
than  sixteen  were  added  to  the  sick-list  in  conse- 
quence of  this  fire. 

The  animal  tribes  disappeared  early  in  the  winter 
from  this  frozen  region,  and  there  remained  only  a 
pack  of  wolves,  which  serenaded  the  ship  nightly,  not 
venturing  to  attack,  but  contriving  to  avoid  being 
captured.  A  beautiful  white  fox  was  caught  and 
made  a  pet  of. 

On  the  16th  of  March  the  North  Georgian  theatre 
was  closed  with  an  appropriate  address,  and  the  gene- 
ral attention  was  now  turned  to  the  means  of  extrica- 
tion from  the  ice.  By  the  17th  of  May  the  seamen 
had  so  far  cut  the  ice  from  around  the  ships  as  to 
allow  them  to  float ;  but  in  the  sea  it  was  still  immova- 
ble. This  interval  of  inaction  was  employed  by  Cap- 
tain Parry  in  an  excursion  across  Melville  Island.  The 
ground  was  still  mostly  covered  with  softened  snow, 
and  even  the  cleared  tracts  were  extremely  desolate, 
though  checkered  by  intervals  of  fine  verdure.  Deer 
were  seen  traversing  the  plains  in  considerable  num- 
bers. To  the  north  appeared  another  island  to  which 
was  given  the  name  of  Sabine.         ' 

By  the  middle  of  June  pools  were  every  where 
formed ;  the  dissolved  water  flowed  in  streams  and 
even  in  torrents,  which  rendered  hunting  and  travel- 
ing unsafe.  There  were  also  channels  of  water  in 
which  boats  could  pass ;  yet  throughout  June  and 
July  the  great  covering  of  ice  in  the  surrounding  sea 


A   BREAK-UP. 


161 


remaitiecl  entire,  and  kept  the  ships  in  harbor.  On 
the  2d  of  August,  however,  the  whole  mass  broke  up 
and  floated  out;  and  the  explorers  had  now  open 
water  in  which  to  prosecute  their  discovery. 

On  the  4th  of  August  they  reached  the  same  spot 
where  their  progress  had  been  fonnerly  arrested.  On 
the  loth  they  were  enabled  to  make  a  certtiin  pro- 
gress; after  which  the  frozen  surface  of  the  ocean 
assumed  a  more  compact  and  impenetrable  aspect 
than  had  ever  before  been  witnessed  The  officers 
ascended  some  of  the  lofty  heights  w^ich  bordered 
the  coast;  but  in  a  long  reach  of  sea  to  the  Avestward 
no  boundary  was  seen  to  these  icy  barriers.  There 
appeared  only  the  western  extremity  of  IMelville 
Island,  named  Cape  Dnndas ;  and  in  the  distance  a 
bold  high  coast,  which  they  named  Banks  Land. 

As  even  a  brisk  easterly  gale  did  not  produce  the 
slightest  movement  in  this  frozen  surface,  they  were 
led  to  believe  that  on  the  other  side  there  must  be  a 
large  barrier  of  land,  by  which  it  was  held  in  a  fixed 
state.  On  considering  all  circumstances,  there  ap- 
peared no  alternative  but  to  make  their  Avay  home- 
ward while  yet  the  seas  >n  permitted. 

Lancaster  Sound  was  left  behind  on  the  1st  of 
September.  Passing  down  the  west  shore  of  Raftin's 
Bay,  they  stopped  at  Clyde's  River,  where  they  re- 
cei\e<l  visits  from  a  tribe  of  Esquimaux,  whose  appear- 
ance and  conduct  pleased  them  all  very  much — lively, 
good-natured,  and  cheerful,  with  a  great  inclination 
to  jump  about  when  nnich  pleased,  "rendering  it," 
says  Parry,  "  a  penalty  of  no  trifling  nature  for  thera 
to  sit  still  for  half  an  hour  together."  They  were 
decently  clothed,  male  and  fenuile,  and  their  children 
equally  so,  in  well  dressed  and  neatly-sewn  seal  skins. 


!  t 

H 


162 


A   RUCCESfiFUL   EXI'EDITION. 


Parry's  arrivtil  in  Britian  was  hailed  with  the  high- 
est exultation.  To  have  sailed  upwai-ds  of  thirty 
degrees  of  longitude  beyond  the  point  reached  by  any 
former  navigator, — to  have  discovered  so  man}'  new 
laud»,  islands,  and  bays, — to  have  established  the 
much-contested  existence  of  a  Polar  sea  north  of 
Ameiica, — finally,  after  a  wintering  of  eleven  months, 
to  have  brought  back  all  his  crew  except  one  man  in 
a  sound  condition, — were  enough  to  raise  his  name 
above  that  of  any  former  Arctic  voyager. 


I 


iS 


h^: 


CHAPTER  XII. 
CRUISE  OF  THE  FURY  AND  IIECLA. 

J  .  ■  (PAKBY LYOX.) 

No  hesitation  wus  felt  in  England  as  to  sending 
ont  another  expedition  under  Pariy ;  an<l  the  two 
sliips  Fury  and  Ileda,  of  nearly  the  same  size,  sailed 
on  the  8th  of  May,  1821.  Captain  Ge()rge  F.  Lyon, 
already  distinguished  for  his  services  in  Africa,  com- 
manded the  Ilecla. 

The  8hii)s  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  Hudson's  Straits 
on  the  2d  of  Jtdy,  where  the  mai-iners  Avere  struck 
with  the  dreary  and  gloomy  as[)eot  of  the  shores. 
They  were  soon  surrounded  with  liergs  and  floes,  and 
had  much  troulde  in  reaching  Hudson's  Bay.  Amid 
these  delays  the  sailors  were  amused  by  the  sight  of 
three  companion  ships — two  l>elonging  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  and  one  hi'inging  out  settlei-s  f(U'  Lord 
Selkirk's  colony.  These  last,  who  were  chiefly  Dutch 
find  Geiiuans,  were  seen  waltzing  on  deck  often  for 
hours  together  and  were  oidy  driven  in  by  a  severe 
fall  of  snow.  Although  almost  in  despaii-,  they  recre- 
ated themselves  from  time  to  time  by  matrimonial 
arrangements,  in  which  they  were  so  diligent,  that  it 
is  said  there  was  scarcely  a  ball  which  did  not  end  in 

a  marriage. 

•     163 


^  i: 


f,  ; 


!^ 


U: 


f  i  i. 


1  : 


T 
i  if 


l-'i: 


164 


THE    SAVAGE-ISLANDERS. 


One  tlay,  when  near  the  Savage  Islanils  a  loud 
shouting  was  heard,  and  soon  after  a  number  of  natives 
were  seen  paddling  their  canoes  through  tlie  lanes  of 
open  water,  or  drawing  them  over  the  pieces  of  ice. 
Among  a  great  number  of  kayaks  were  five  ooniiaks, 
or  women's  boats.  Presently  a  wild  and  noisy  scene 
of  frolic  and  traffic  began.  The  natives  traded  ^vith 
eagerness,  even  stripping  themselves  of  the  furs  which 
formed  their  clothing,  and  raised  shouts  of  triumph 
when  they  obtained  in  exchange  for  them  a  nail,  a 
saw,  or  a  razor.  Their  aspect  was  wild  and  their 
character  seemed  fierce  and  savage.  Some  of  the 
ancient  dames  were  pronounced  to  be  most  hideous 
objects.  The  children  Avere  rather  pretty;  though, 
from  being  thrown  carelessly  into  the  bottom  of  the 
boats,  they  had  nnich  the  appearance  of  young  wild 
animals.  Besides  traflic.  the  natives  indulired  in  a 
great  deal  of  rude  frolic;  one  of  them  got  behind  a 
sailor,  shouted  loudly  in  one  ear  and  gave  him  a 
hearty  box  on  the  other,  which  was  hailed  Avith  a 
general  laugh.  They  also  carried  on  a  dance,  consist- 
ing chief.}'  of  violent  leaping  and  stamping,  though 
in  tolerable  time. 

After  reaching  Southampton  Island,  Parry  sailed 
Tip  Fox's  Channel  and  passing  ai'ound  the  north  of 
the  island  came  to  Repulse  Bay,  where  he  ascertained 
that  it  was  as  Middleton  had  described  it,  without  a 
western  outlet.  Its  shores  were  far  from  uninviting: 
the  surrounding  land  arose  a  thousand  feet,  and  veg- 
etation was  very  luxuriant.  The  remains  of  sixty 
Esquimaiix  habitations  were  found,  consisting  of  stones 
laid  one  over  the  other,  in  circles,  tight  or  nine  feet 
in  diameter;  besides  about  a  hundred  artificial  struct- 
ures, fire-places,  store-houses,  and  other  walled  tuilos- 


TIlLEVmO   NATIVES. 


1G5 


ures  four   or  five  feefc  high,  used  for  keeping  their 
skin  canoes  from  being  gnawed  by  the  dogs. 

Leaving  Repulse  Bay  and  sailing  eastward,  the 
explorers  soon  found  themselves  among  numerous 
islands  which  formed  a  complete  labyrinth  of  various 
shapes  and  sizes,  while  strong  currents  setting  between 
them  in  various  directions,  amid  fogs  and  drifting  ice, 
rendered  the  navigation  truly  perilous.  The  Furj- 
was  assailed  by  successive  masses  rushing  out  from 
an  inlet ;  her  anchor  was  dragged  along  the  rocks  with 
a  grinding  noise,  and  on  being  drawn  uj),  the  two 
flukes  were  found  to  be  broken  oif.  A  channel  was 
at  last  found,  by  which  the  mariners  made  tlieir  way 
through  this  perilous  maze,  and  found  themselves  in 
Fox's  Channel,  which  they  liad  left  a  montli  before. 

Starting  northward  again  they  discovered  several 
inlets,  one  of  which  they  named  after  Captain  Lyon. 
A  j>arty  of  Esquimaux  were  encountered,  \\hoso  timid- 
ity was  overcome  by  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  iron 
tools.  In  the  course  of  this  transaction,  the  cuiiosity 
of  the  crew  was  roused  by  tlie  conduct  of  .a  Avoman, 
who  had  sold  one  boot,  but  obstinately  retained  the 
other  in  disregard  of  the  strongest  remonsti-anoes  as 
to  the  ridiculous  figure  she  made.  At  length  suspi- 
cion rose  to  such  a  pitch,  that,  setting  aside  all  court- 
esy, they  seized  hei"  and  pulled  off  the  boot,  in  which 
was  fo.:nd  two  spoons  and  a  pewter  plate  ^vhich  she 
had  stolen. 

Tlie  end  of  September  now  approached,  and  Parry 
found  himself  suddenly  in  the  depth  of  winter;  soft 
or  pancake  ice  began  to  form  and  ra})i<!ly  increased 
till  the  vessel  became  like  Gulliver  bound  by  the 
feeble  hands  of  Lilliputians.  At  the  same  time  the 
drift-ice  became  cemented  into  one  great  and  threat- 

10  ^ 


M 


l\^ 


I  • 


166 


''THE   EIV.\X8.'* 


ening  field.  The  navigators  could  no  longer  even  at- 
tempt to  reach  the  land,  but  detennined  to  saw  into 
an  adjoining  floe,  and  there  take  up  their  winter  quar- 
ters. This  work  was  not  laborious,  but  far  from 
pleasant,  as  the  ice  bent       j  leather  beneath  them. 

The  ships  Avere  now  (  zen  in,  and  measures  were 
taken  to  preserve  health  and  comfort  dining  the 
dreary  winter  before  them.  The  Polur  Theatre  was 
opened  in  November  with  "  Tlie  Rivals."  Parry  and 
Lyon  volunteered  to  appear  as  Sir  Anthony  and  Cap- 
tain Absolute ;  while  the  ladies  generously  removed 
an  ample  growth  of  beard,  disregarding  the  comforta- 
ble warmth  which  it  afforded  in  an  Arctic  climate. 
The  comj)any  were  well  received,  and  carried  through 
their  performances  with  unabated  spirit.  Evening 
schools  were  also  established  in  both  ships — the 
cL'rk  of  tlie  Fury  and  a  seaman  of  the  Ilecla  act- 
ing as  schoolmasters.  Twenty  men  of  each  ship 
passed  Uvo  hours  every  evening  in  these  exercises, 
and  made  considerable  progiess  in  their  studies. 

Amid  these  varied  and  pleasing  occupations  the 
shortest  day  passed  over  their  lieads  almost  unol  )served, 
especially  as  tlie  sun  never  entirely  left  them.  Ou 
Christmas-day  divine  service  was  performed  on  board 
the  Fur}'  and  attended  by  the  men  of  both  ships. 
The  sailors  were  regaled  with  fresh  beef,  cranberry 
pies,  and  grog,  and  became  so  extremely  elevated,  that 
they  insisted  on  successively  drinking,  with  three 
hearty  cheers,  the  healtli  of  each  officer. 

The  winter  months  were  enlivened  by  various  beau- 
tiful appearances  which  the  aky  at  times  presented. 
Those  singulci  and  beautiful  streams  of  light,  called 
the  Aurora  Borecdis,  or  Northern  Lights,  keep  up  an 
almost  incessant  illumination.     The  licrht  had  a  ten- 


^^^^:£:'v 


i. 


ti  1 


denci 

weat] 

boun( 

the  a; 

every 

Hgliti 

move 

(liince 

direct 

weatli 

in  tli€ 

They 

scene, 

Indlai 

father 

On 

of  dig 

when 

raised, 

great  : 

with  t 

l)arty 

that  t 

then  i 

a<.lvan( 

this  01 

moven 

stautia 

appear 

their  r 

liad  pi( 

had  br 

in  excl 

beads. 


"the  msbrt  dancers." 


109 


U  Ml 


dency  to  form  an  irregular  arch,  which,  in  calm 
weather,  was  often  very  distinct,  though  its  upper 
boundary  was  seldom  well-defined;  but,  whenever 
the  air  became  agitated,  showers  of  rays  spread  in 
every  direction  with  the  brilliancy  and  rapidity  of 
lightning.  No  rule,  however,  could  be  traced  in  the 
movement  of  those  lighter  parcels  called  "  the  merry 
dimcers,"  which  flew  about  perpetually  in  every 
direction  and  towards  every  quarter.  In  stormy 
weather  the  Northern  Lights  always  became  more  rapid 
in  their  motions,  sharing  all  the  wildness  of  the  blast. 
They  gave  an  indescribable  air  of  magic  to  the  whole 
scene,  and  made  it  not  wonderful,  that  by  the  untaught 
Indian  they  should  be  vieAved  as  "the  spirits  of  his 
fathers  roaming  through  the  laud  of  souls." 

On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  February  a  number 
of  distant  figures  were  seen  moving  ov  the  ice,  and 
when  they  were  viewed  through  glasses,  the  cry  wan 
raised,  "Esquimaux!  Esquimaux!"  As  it  was  of 
great  importance  to  deal  courteously  and  discreetly 
with  these  strangera,  the  two  commanders  formed  a 
party  of  six,  who  walked  in  files  behind  each  other 
that  they  might  cause  no  alarm.  The  Esquimaux 
then  formed  themselves  into  a  line  of  twenty-one, 
advanced  slowly,  and  at  length  made  a  full  stop.  In 
this  order  they  saluted  the  strangers  by  the  usual 
movement  of  beating  their  breasts.  They  were  sub- 
stantially clothed  in  rich  and  dark  deer-skins,  and 
appeared  a  much  more  quiet  and  oi-derly  race  than 
their  rude  countrymen  of  the  Savage  Islands.  They 
had  pieces  of  whalebone  in  their  hands  which  they 
had  brought  hither  as  a  peace  offering  or  for  barter ; 
ill  exchange  for  them  they  were  given  some  nails  and 
beads.    Some  of  the  women  who  had  handsome  furs 


h 


170 


ESQUIMAUX    NEIGIinoilS   DIUC'OVEKKD. 


on  which  attracted  attention,  began  to  strii)  them  off, 
to  the  great  consternation  of  the  English — as  the  tem- 
perature was  far  below  zero — who  were  consoled  on 
finding  that  they  liad  on  complete  double  suits. 

The  Esquimaux  then  by  signs  invited  the  English 
to  accompany  them  to  their  habitations,  which  were 
only  two  miles  from  the  ships,  but  had  not,  strange 
to  say,  been  before  discovered,  although  there  was  a 
settlement  of  five  houses  and  sixty  j)e<)ple  with  their 
canoes,  sledges  and  dogs.  The  huts  were  made  en- 
tirely of  snow  and  ice,  with  ice  windows  at  the  top  to 
admit  liglit ;  entrance  was  effected  by  creeping  through 
lo^v  passages  with  arched  doors ;  the  roofs  were  j)er- 
fect  arched  domes,  and  from  a  circular  apartment  in 
the  centre,  arched  doorways  connected  with  three 
other  rooms. 

The  interior  of  these  mansions  j)resented  a  scene 
novel  and  interesting.  The  women  were  seated  on 
the  beds  at  the  sides,  each  one  Imving  a  little  fire- 
place, or  lamp,  with  domestic  utensils  ai'ound  her. 
The  children  crept  behind  their  mothers,  and  the  dogs, 
excepting  those  on  the  beds,  slunk  out  doors  in  dis- 
may. Outside,  the  village  appeared  like  a  cluster  of 
hillocks,  but  successive  falls  of  snow  filled  up  the 
spaces  between  'the  huts  and  made  the  sui-face  nearly 
level,  so  that  the  children  played  on  the  roofs,  and  as 
summer  advanced  occasionally  thrust  through  them  a 
leg  or  a  foot. 

After  a  cheerful  and  friendly  visit,  an  invitation 
was  given  to  the  Esquimaux  to  repair  to  the  ships, 
when  fifty  accepted  it.  Partly  walking  and  partly 
dancing  they  (juickly  reached  the  vessels,  where  a  strik- 
ing congeniality  of  spirit  was  soon  found  to  exist  be- 
tween them  and  the  sailors — boisterous  fun  forming 


ASTONtSlIINO    TlIK    NATIVES. 


171 


to  each  the  chief  source  of  enjoyment.  A  fiddle  and 
drum  being  produced,  the  natives  struck  up  a  dance, 
or  rather  a  succession  of  veliement  leaps,  accomj)anied 
with  loud  shouts  and  yells.  Seeing  the  Kahloonas  or 
Whites,  as  they  called  the  strangers,  engaged  in  the 
game  of  lea[)-frog,  they  attempteii  to  join ;  hut  not 
duly  iinderHtaiuling  how  to  nu'asure  their  movenuMits, 
they  made  such  over-leaps  as  so? m'.* times  to  come  down 
on  the  crown  of  their  heads.  Their  attention  was 
specially  attracted  to  the  effects  of  a  winch,  hy  which 
one  sailor  forcihly  drew  towards  him  a  party  of  ten 
or  twelve  of  their  number,  though  grinning  and  strain- 
ing every  nerve  in  resistance;  but  finding  all  in  vain, 
they  joined  in  the  burst  of  good-humored  laughter  till 
teal's  streamed  from  thoir  eyes. 

One  intelligent  old  man  followed  Lyon  to  the  cabin, 
and  viewed  vvitli  rational  surprise  various  objects 
which  Averc  presented.  The  performance  of  a  hand- 
organ  and  a  musical  snuff-box  struck  him  with  breath- 
less  admiration;  and  on  seeing  drawings  of  the  Es([ui 
niaux  in  Hudson's  Strait,  he  soon  understood  them 
and  showed  the  difference  between  their  di'ess  and  ap- 
];earance  and  that  of  his  own  tribe.  On  seeing  the 
sketch  of  a  bear,  he  raised  a  loud  cry,  drew  up  his 
sleeves,  and.  showed  the  seal's  of  three  de(!p  wounds 
received  in  encounters  with  that  terrible  animal.  The 
seamen  so\:ght  to  treat  their  visitors  to  such  delicacies 
as  the  ship  afforded,  but  were  for  some  time  at  a  loss 
to  discover  how  their  palate  might  be  gratified.  Gi'og, 
the  seam.'ui's  choicest  luxury,  only  one  old  woman 
could  be  induced  to  taste.  Sugar,  sweetmeats,  gin- 
gerbrea<l,  were  eaten  from  politeness  but  with  evident 
disgust ;  but  oil  and  anything  consisting  of  fat  or 
g^ea^e,  Avas  swallowed    in   immense   cpiantitles,  and 


\ 


173 


ASTONISHING   THE  NATIVIS. 


with  symptoms  of  exquisite  delight.  An  old  woman, 
who  sold  her  oil-pot,  took  care  to  swallow  its  contents 
and  lick  it  clean  with  her  tongue  before  parting  with 
it  Captain  Lyon,  being  disposed  to  ingratiate  him- 
self with  a  rather  handsome  young  damsel,  presented 
her  with  a  candle ;  she  ate  the  tallow  with  every 
symptom  of  enjoyment,  and  then  thrust  the  Avick  into 
her  mouth. 

A  large  pack  of  wolves  remained  in  the  vicinity 
through  the  whole  winter,  in  eager  watch  for  any  vie- 
tim  which  might  come  within  their  reach.  They  took 
a  station  between  the  huts  and  the  ships,  ready  to  act 
against  either  as  circumstances  might  dictate.  Tliey 
did  not  attack  the  sailors  even  when  unarmed,  though 
they  were  often  seen  hovering  through  the  gloom  in 
search  of  prey.  Every  stray  dog  was  seized,  and  Avheu 
extremely  hungry  they  devoured  the  cables  and  can- 
vas as  opportunity  offered.  A  deadly  war  was  there- 
fore waged  againfjt  them  by  the  sailoi-s,  and  many 
were  killed  and  given  to  the  Esquimaux. 

As  spring  advanced,  the  attention  of  the  officers 
was  almost  wholly  engrossed  by  the  prospect  of  navi- 
gation and  discovery  during  the  approaching  summer. 
Their  Es<|uimaux  neighbors  accustomed  t'>  move  from 
place  to  place,  were  found  to  have  an  extensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  seas  and  coasts.  One  woman,  named 
Iligliuk,  called  by  her  people  "  the  wise  woman,"  was, 
after  a  little  instruction,  enabled  to  convey  to  the 
strangers  the  outlines  of  her  geographical  knowledge 
in  the  form  of  a  rude  map. 

Captain  Lyon,  in  the  middle  of  March,  undertook  a 
journey  across  a  piece  of  land  lying  south  of  the  ships, 
which  had  been  named  Winter  Island.  The  party 
were  scarcely  gone  when  they  encountered  a  heavy 


AN   EXCURSION. 

gale,  bringing  with  it  clouds  of  drifted  snow  and  in- 
tense cold.  They  dug  a  cave  in  the  snow,  and  by 
hud<lliug  together  round  v.  lire  to  which  no  vent  was 
allowed,  contrived  to  keep  up  a  degree  of  warmth. 
In  the  morning  their  sledge  was  too  deeply  buried 
beneath  the  drift  to  leave  any  hope  of  digging  it  out, 
and  they  started  for  the  shi})s,  now  six  miles  distant, 
with  snow  falling  so  thick  that  they  could  not  see  a 
yard  before  them. 

They  were  soon  bewildered,  and  wandeied  they 
knew  not  ^vhere  among  heavy  hummocks  of  ice ;  some 
began  to  sink  into  that  insensibility  which  is  the  pre- 
lude to  death  by  cold,  and  to  reel  about  like  drunken 
men.  After  resigning  almost  every  hope  of  deliver- 
ance they  providentially  reached  the  ships,  where 
their  arrival  caused  indescribable  joy,  as  they  had 
been  given  up  for  lost,  while  no  party  could  lie  sent 
in  search  of  them  without  imminent  risk  of  sharing 
their  fate. 

In  May,  Captain  Lyon  undertook  another  journey. 
lie  crossed  Winter  Island,  and  also  the  frozen  strait 
separating  it  from  the  continent.  lie  then  proceeded 
some  distance  along  the  coast,  crossing  sevci'al  bays 
upon  the  ice,  and  at  last  came  in  view  o{  a  bold  cape, 
which  he  vainly  hoped  was  the  extreme  western  ])oint 
of  Ameiica.  Here  the  party  were  oveitaken  by  a 
storm  of  snow,  which  kei)t  them  hnj)ris()ned  in  their 
tents  for  sixty-eight  hours,  which  dreary  interval  they 
enlivened  by  reading  in  tuni  from  three  l)ooks  they 
chanced  to  luive  with  them ;  as  soon  as  the  sun  began 
to  shine  they  liastened  back  to  the  ships. 

The  end  of  May  presented  a  gloomy  aspect,  the  sea- 
son l)eing  more  backward  than  it  had  been  in  the 
higher  latitude  of  Melville  Island.     The  snow  was 


174 


A  FIGHT  wrrn  walrus. 


dissolved  only  in  spots,  and  hardly  any  symptoms  of 
vegetation  were  visible ;  but  as  there  was  an  expanse 
of  open  water  in  the  sea  without,  Captain  Parry  de- 
termined upon  sawing  his  way  through  to  it.  This 
was  a  most  laborious  process,  and  after  the  seamen 
had  continued  at  it  more  tlian  a  fortnight,  and  were 
within  forty-eight  hours  of  completing  a  canal,  the 
body  of  the  ice  made  a  movement  which  closed  it  en- 
tirely up.  Another  passage  opened,  and  then  closed, 
but  at  last  open  water  was  reached,  and  the  shijDS  sail- 
ed on  the  2d  of  July.  * 

The  shores  now  began  to  put  on  their  summer  as- 
pect; the  snow  had  nearly  disappeared,  and  the 
ground  was  covered  with  the  richest  bloom  of  Arctic 
vegetation.  Tlie  explorers  came  to  a  fine  river  named 
Barrow,  Avhich  formed  a  most  picturescpie  fall  down 
rocks  richly  fringed  with  very  brilliant  plants.  Here 
the  reindeer  sporting,  the  eider-duck,  the  golden  plover, 
and  the  snow-bunting,  spreading  their  wings,  pro- 
duced a  gay  and  delightful  scene.  On  the  14th  they 
reached  th(^  island  of  Amitioke,  where  they  saw  about 
two  hundred  Avalruses  lying  piled  over  each  other  on 
the  loose  di'ift-ice.  A  boat's  crew  from  each  ship  pro- 
ceeded to  the  attack;  but  these  gallant  amphibia, 
some  with  their  cubs  mounted  on  their  backs,  made 
the  most  desperate  resistance ;  three  only  were  killed. 

They  now  proceeded  northward,  and  saw  before 
them  a  bold  and  high  range  of  coast,  separated  ap- 
parently flora  that  along  which  tliey  were  sailing. 
This  feature  agreeing  with  the  map  drawn  by  the 
fair  Iligliuk,  flattered  them  that  they  w^re  ai)pi'oach- 
ing  the  strait  exhibited  by  her  as  forming  the  entrance 
into  the  Polar  basin.  Tliey  pushed  on  full  of  hope 
and  animation,  and  were  farther  cheered  by  reaching 


STOPPED    BY    ICE. 


m 


the  small  island  of  Igloolik,  whicli  she  had  described 
as  situated  at  the  commencement  of  the  passage. 
They  soon  saw  the  strait  stretching  westward  before 
them  in  long  perspective ;  but,  alas !  they  discovered 
at  the  same  moment  an  unbroken  sheet  of  ice  from 
shore  to  shore,  crossing  and  blocking  up  the  passage ; 
;ind  this  not  a  loose  accidental  floe,  Imt  the  ice  of  the 
preceding  winter,  on  which  the  midsummer  sun  had 
not  produced  the  slightest  change. 

Unable  to  advance  a  single  step,  they  amused  them- 
selves with  land  excursions  in  different  directions;  and 
Captain  Parry  undertook,  on  the  14th  of  August,  with 
a  party  of  six,  an  expedition  along  the  frozen  suiiace 
of  the  strait.  The  journey  was  very  laborious,  the 
ice  being  sometimes  thrown  up  in  rugged  lunnmocka, 
and  occasionally  leaving  large  spaces  of  open  Avater, 
which  it  was  necessary  to  cross  on  a  plank,  or  on 
pieces  of  ice  instead  of  boats.  In  four  days  they  came 
in  view  of  a  peninsula  terminated  by  a  bold  cape,  the 
approach  to  Avliich  -was  guarded  by  successix^e  ranges 
of  strata,  resembling  the  tiers  or  gallei'ies  of  a  high 
and  commanding  fortification.  The  jiarty  scrambled 
to  the  sunmiit,  whence  they  enjoyed  a  most  gratifying 
spectacle.  They  were  at  the  narrowest  part  of  the 
strait,  here  about  two  miles  across,  and  a  tide  or  cur- 
rent was  running  through  it  at  the  rate  of  two  miles 
an  hour.  Westward  the  shores  on  each  side  receded, 
till,  for  three  i)ointH  of  the  compass  and  rmid  a  clear 
horizon  no  land  was  visible.  The  captain  doubted 
not  that  from  this  position  he  beheld  the  Polar  sea ; 
and  hoped  notwithstanding  the  formidable  barriers  of 
ice  which  intervened  to  force  his  way  into  it.  He 
named  this  the  Strait  of  the  Fury  and  Ilecla,  and  gave 
the  sailors  an  extra  can  of  grog,  to  drink  a  safe  and 
speedy  passage  through  its  channel. 


176 


AGAIN   FROZEN  IN. 


t.  M  ''. 


I'  t 


Pany  now  lost  no  time  in  returning  to  tlie  sliips, 
where  his  aiiival  was  seasonable,  for  the  opposing  bar- 
rier which  had  been  gradually  softening  and  cracking, 
at  once  almost  entirely  disappeared.  On  the  51«t  the 
ships  got  under  way ;  and,  though  retarded  by  fogs 
and  other  obstructions,  arrived  on  the  2Gth  at  that 
narrowest  channel  which  the  commander  had  formerly 
reached.  A  brisk  breeze  now  sprang  up,  the  sky 
cleared,  they  dashed  across  a  current  of  three  or  four 
knots  an  hour,  and  sanguinely  expected  entire  success. 
Suddenly,  from  the  crow's  nest  above,  it  was  an- 
nounced that  ice  filled  the  channel.  In  an  hour  they 
reached  this  baiTier,  and  finding  it  soft,  spread  all 
their  canvas  and  forced  their  way  into  it  a  distance 
when  they  were  stopped.  From  this  point,  during 
the  whole  season,  the  ships  were  unable  to  advance. 

Captain  Lyon  undertook  an  expedition  southward, 
to  ascertain  i±  any  inlet  or  passage  from  sea  to  sea  in 
this  direction  had  escaped  notice.  The  country  was 
80  filled  with  high  rocky  hills,  and  with  chains  of 
lakes  in  which  much  ice  was  floating,  that  he  could 
not  proceed  above  seven  miles.  Though  it  was  the 
beginning  of  September,  the  season  was  only  that  of 
early  spring.  Another  excursion  was  made  by  a 
party  who  penetrated  sixty  miles  westward  along  the 
southern  coast  of  Cockburn  Island,  till  they  readied 
a  pinnacle,  whence  they  saw  the  Polar  ocean  spread- 
ing before  them ;  but  tremendous  bariiers  of  ice  filled 
the  strait,  and  precluded  all  approach. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  September,  and  the  usual 
symptoms  of  deer  trooping  in  herds  southward,  float- 
ing pieces  of  ice  consolidating  into  masses,  and  the 
thin  crust  forming  on  the  surface  of  the  waters,  re- 
minded the  mariners  not  only  that  they  could  hope 


A  CHEEKING   SPECTACLE. 


177 


for  no  farther  removal  of  the  obstacles  which  arrested 
their  progress,  but  that  they  must  lose  no  time  in  jiro- 
viding  winter-quarters.  The  middle  of  the  strait,  at 
the  spot  where  they  had  been  firat  stopped,  was  a  fav- 
orable station  for  ^'uture  discover}^ ;  but  prudence  sug- 
gested a  doubt  .vliether  the  ships  enclosed  in  this  icy 
piison  could  ever  be  released. 

On  the  30th  of  October,  by  the  usual  operation  of 
sawing,  the  ships  were  established  in  a  hai'bor  at 
Igloolik.  The  ensuing  season  was  passed  with  the 
most  careful  attention  to  the  health  and  comfort  of 
the  crews ;  but  though  their  spirits  did  not  sink,  there 
appears  to  have  been  on  the  whole,  less  gaj'ety  and 
lightness  of  heart  than  in  the  t^svo  former  -winterings, 
and  the  drama  and  school  were  not  revived.  On  the 
5th  of  Januaiy  1823,  the  horizon  was  so  brightly  suf- 
fused Avith  red,  that  they  hoped  to  see  the  sun  ;  but  a 
fortnight  of  thick  fog  occasioned  a  disappointment. 
On  the  19th,  the  sky  having  cleared,  they  saw  it  rise 
attended  by  two  parhelia,  and  both  crews  turned  out 
to  enjoy  the  novelty  and  splendor  of  this  cheering 
spectacle. 

The  sailors  found  at  Igloolik  a  colony  of  Esqui- 
maux, who  received  them  at  firat  with  surprise  and 
some  degree  of  alann ;  but  on  learning  they  were  from 
Winter  Island  and  intimate  with  its  tenants  of  last 
season,  they  hailed  them  at  once  as  familiar  acquaint- 
ances. These  natives  belonged  to  the  same  tribe,  and 
were  connected  by  alliance  and  close  relationship  with 
many  individuals  of  the  Winter  Island  party,  of 
v."hom,  therefore,  they  were  delighted  to  receive  tid- 
ings. The  crews  spent  the  winter  with  them  on  quite 
a  friendly  footing,  and  rendered  important  services  to 
them  during  a  period  of  severe  sickness. 


,!  ! 


•  t 

■        t 


in 


m! 


178 


THE   FAIK  ESQUIMAUX. 


The  navigators  were  received  with  the  most  cordial 
hospitality  into  the  little  huts,  where  the  best  meat 
was  set  before  them,  and  the  women  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  attentions  of  cooking,  dicing  and  mend- 
ing their  clothes.  "  The  women  working  and  singing, 
their  husbands  quietly  mending  their  lines,  the  chil- 
dren playing  before  the  door,  and  the  pot  boiling  over 
the  blaze  of  a  cheerful  lamp,"  gave  a  pleasing  picture 
of  savage  life.  Yet  a  continued  intercourse  sliowed 
that  the  Esquimaux  inheiited  their  full  share  of  human 
frailty.  The  fair  Esquimaux  are  charged  with  a  strong 
propensity  to  slander,  which  was  natural  to  them  as 
they  sat  in  circles  round  the  door  mending  their  lines. 
Their  own  conduct,  meantime,  is  said  to  have  afforded 
ample  scope  for  censure,  especially  in  regard  to  con- 
nubial fidelity. 

*  The  principal  deity  of  these  people  was  Aywillai- 
yoo,  a  female,  immensely  tall,  with  only  the  left  eye, 
and  wearing  a  pigtail  reaching  to  her  knee.  Lyon 
witnessed  a  mighty  incantation,  in  which  Toolemak, 
the  chief  magician,  summoned  Aywillaiyoo  to  the 
upper  world  to  utter  her  oracles.  The  party  Avere 
assembled  in  a  hut,  where  light  after  light  was  put 
out  till  they  were  left  in  total  darkness.  Toolemak 
then,  after  loud  invocations,  professed  to  descend  to 
the  world  below  to  bring  up  the  goddess.  Soon  there 
arose  a  low  chant  of  peculiar  sound,  imagined  to  be 
the  voice  of  Aywillaiyoo.  During  half  an  hour,  in 
reply  to  the  loud  screams  and  questions  of  her  votaries, 
she  uttered  dubious  and  mystical  responses ;  after 
which  the  sound  died  away,  and  she  was  supposed  to 
descend  beneath  the  earth;  then  Toolemak  with  a 
shout  announced  his  own  return  to  the  upper  world. 

The  natives  believe  also  in  a  future  world,  the  em- 


AN   ESQUIMAUX  MAGICIAN. 


179 


ployments  and  pleasures  of  which,  according  to  the 
usual  creed  of  savage  races,  are  all  sensual.  The  soul 
descends  beneath  the  earth  through  successive  abodes, 
the  first  of  which  has  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  pur- 
gatory ;  but  the  good  spirits  passing  througli  it  find 
the  other  mansions  successively  improve,  till  they 
rjach  that  of  perfect  bliss,  far  beneath,  where  the  sun 
never  sets,  and  where,  by  the  side  of  large  lakes  that 
never  freeze,  the  deer  roam  in  vast  herds  and  the 
seal  and  walrus  always  abound  in  the  w^aters. 

One  of  the  Esquimaux  having  lost  his  wife,  as  it 
was  very  difticult  to  dig  a  grave,  the  sailors  j)iled  over 
her  a  heap  of  stones  to  protect  her  from  wild  animals. 
The  man  gave  thanks,  but  not  cordially ;  he  even  ex- 
pressed a  dread  lest  the  weight  would  be  painfully 
felt  by  his  deceased  spouse ;  and  soon  after,  Avhen  an 
infant  died,  he  declared  her  wholly  incapable  of  bear- 
ing such  a  burden  and  would  allow  nothing  but  snow 
to  be  laid  over  her. 

The  spring  j)roved  singularly  backward,  and  it  was 
the  7th  of  August  before  they  were  able,  by  hard  saw- 
ing, to  reach  the  open  sea ;  by  Avliich  time  hope  of 
effecting  any  thing  important  during  that  season  was 
relinfpiished.  The  voyage  homeward  was  soon  after- 
ward commenced,  and  the  explorers  reached  England 
in  October.  As  nothing  had  been  heard  of  them 
during  their  two  years'  absence,  they  were  viewed 
almost  as  men  risen  from  the  dead.  The  bells  of  Ler- 
wick were  rung,  and  other  extraordinary  demonstra- 
tions of  joy  made  on  their  arrival. 

A  third  expedition  under  Parry  sailed  from  Eng- 
land on  the  19th  of  May,  1824.  It  consisted  of  the 
two  ships  with  which  he  had  made  his  last  voyage — 
the  Hecla  and  Fury,  the    latter   being  commanded 


i 


11 


180 


PAEEY'S   THIRD   EXPEDITION. 


by  Capt.  H.  P.  Hoppner,  who  had  already  made  several 
voyages  with  Parry.  It  was  not  till  the  10th  of  Sept. 
that  they  were  able  to  enter  Lancaster  Sound,  and 
on  the  1st  of  October  they  anchored  for  the  winter  at 
Port  Bowen  in  Prince  Regent's  Inlet. 

As  the  amusements  of  former  winters  had  been 
worn  threadbare,  masquerades  were  started  and  kept 
up  monthly  throughout  the  winter.  Schools  also 
were  opened  and  continued  with  much  benefit  to  the 
scholars. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  by  sawing  through  the  ice  the 
navigators  reached  open  water  and  proceeded  down 
the  inlet,  which  was  filled  with  fragments  of  ice,  mak- 
ing navigation  dangerous.  Subsequently  they  drifted 
with  the  ice  till  the  ships  lay  close  to  the  shore,  over 
which  towered  high  perpendicular  cliffs,  fragnients 
from  which  were  constantly  falling. 

About  the  first  of  August  a  gale  came  on,  which 
drove  the  ice  against  the  ships  so  that  they  became 
unmanageable,  and  were  carried  along  with  great 
8i)eed  and  grounded  on  the  icy  beach.  Both  vessels 
were  severely  nipped,  but  got  off  with  high  \\ater. 

On  the  2l8t  the  Fury  was  again  forced  on  sliore, 
and  as  it  was  impossible  to  repair  her  she  was  aban- 
doned, and  her  crew  went  on  board  the  Heela. 
Years  afterward  the  stores  of  the  deserted  ship 
served  to  comfort  and  sustain  British  sailors  when  in 
circunistanoes  of  great  j^eril. 

The  incessant  labor  and  anxiety  and  the  frequent 
imminent  danger  into  which  the  Ilecla  was  thrown 
in  the  attempts  to  save  her  comrade,  continued  for 
nearly  a  month,  destroyed  every  chance  of  acconq)lish- 
ing  the  objects  of  the  voyage ;  Pany  therefore 
started  for  Engliand  where  he  arrived  in  October. 


^il 


I'i 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
VOYAGE  OF  THE  DOROTHEA  AND  TRENT. 

1     /.      (buCHAN — FRANKLIN.) 

The  English  Expedition  toward  the  Pole  in  1818, 
referred  to  in  Chapter  IX,  was  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain David  Buchan,  who  sailed  in  the  Dorothea ;  the 
other  ship  of  the  expedition,  the  Trent,  was  command- 
ed by  Lt.  John  Franklin.  Frederic  Beecliy,  who  pub- 
lished an  account  of  the  voyage,  and  George  Back 
were  officers  on  the  latter  vessel. 

The  ships  left  England  in  April,  their  appointed 
place  of  rendezvous  in  case  of  separation  being  Mag- 
dalena  Bay,  Spitzbergen.  They  reached  Bear  Island 
toward  the  close  of  May ;  here  the  walrus  were  very 
numerous  and  were  carefully  studied.  Their  affec- 
tion for  their  young,  their  unflinching  courage  in  de- 
fending them,  and  their  conduct  towards  a  Avounded 
companion  were  remarkable.  It  Avas  noticed  in  a 
fiiiht  with  them,  that  when  one  was  wounded  otliers 
desisted  from  the  attack  and  assisted  their  companion 
from  the  field  of  battle,  swimming  around  him  and 
holding  him  up  with  their  tusks. 

Early  in  June  the  two  ships  an cho'"ed  in  Magdalena 
Bay,  in  the  vicinity  of  numerous  glacn>rs,  the  smallest 
of  which,  called  the  Hanging  Iceberg,  was  two  hundred 

181 


^i 


\ 


ii.( 


'I 

I 


182 


AN   AVALANCHE. 


feet  above  the  water  on  the  slope  of  a  mountain.  So 
easily  were  large  fragments  of  ice  detached  from  these 
glaciers  that  silence  became  necessary.  The  firing 
of  a  gun  rarely  failed  to  be  followed  l)y  an  avalanche, 
and  t\vo  of  tlei e  witnessed  by  Beechy  were  on  the 
most  magnificent  scale.  An  immense  piece  slid  from 
a  mountain  into  the  bay,  where  it  disappeared,  and 
nothing  was  seen  but  a  violent  commotion  of  the  wa- 
ter and  clouds  of  spray.  On  re-appearing  it  raised  its 
head  a  hundred  feet  above  the  surface  with  water 
pouring  down  from  all  parts  of  it.  When  it  became 
stationary  it  was  measured  and  estimated  to  weigh 
421,660  tons. 

The  avalanche  in  falling  into  the  water,  made  such 
a  commotion  that  the  Dorothea,  which  was  anchored 
four  miles  distant,  was  careened  over  and  had  to  be 
set  right  by  releasing  the  tackles.  '■  •  .    ^  ' 

The  ex])lorers  left  this  locality  on  the  7th  of  June, 
and  sailing  northward  passed  tlie  north-western  bound- 
ary of  Spitzbergen.  Beyond  Red  Bay  they  were  stop- 
ped by  the  ice  and  remained  imbedded  in  a  floe  for 
thirteen  days,  and  afterward  took  shelter  in  Fair 
Haven. 

On  the  6th  of  July  the  explorers  again  sailed  north, 
but  soon  after  encountered  ice  through  which  were 
channels  of  water.  As  the  wind  Avas  favorable  one  of 
them  was  entered,  but  at  evening  it  closed  up  and  all 
attempts  to  get  f artlier  were  in  vain,  as  they  Avere  con- 
tinually drifted  south  with  the  ice.  The  highest  lati- 
tude reached  Avas  80^  34 '. 

Having  given  this  route  a  fair  trial  Buchan  started 
toward  the  Greenland  coast.  While  sailing  along  the 
edge  of  the  ice  a  sudden  gale  arose,  and  to  escape 
wreck  the  ships  steered  straight  toward  the  pack,  sur- 


So 


A   DANGKnorS   POSITION". 


183 


rounded  by  immense  pieces  of  ice.  It  was  doubtful 
what  the  result  would  be  wlieii  the  ships  reached  the 
solid  ice,  but  the  crew  preserved  the  greatest  calmness 
and  resolution.  Beechy  says: — "I  will  not  conceal 
the  pride  I  felt  in  witnessing  the  bold  and  decisive 
tone  in  which  the  orders  were  issued  by  tlie  comnuinder 
of  our  little  vessel  (Franklin),  and  the  promj)titude 
and  steadiness  with  which  they  were  executed  by  the 
crew.  Each  person  instinctively  secured  his  own  hold 
and,  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  masts,  awaitetl  in 
breathless  anxiety  the  moment  of  concussion.  It  soon 
arrived ;  the  brig,  cutting  her  way  through  the  light 
ice,  came  in  violent  contact  with  the  main  body.  In 
an  instant  we  all  lost  our  footing,  the  masts  bent  with 
the  impetus,  and  the  cracking  timbers  from  below  be- 
spoke a  pressure  which  was  calculated  to  awaken  our 
serious  apprehensions.  The  ship's  motion  was  so 
great  that  the  bell,  which  in  the  heaviest  gale  of  wind 
had  never  struck  of  itself,  now  tolled  so  continually 
that  it  was  ordered  to  be  muffled  for  the  purpose  of 
escaping  the  unpleasant  associations  it  was  calculated 
to  produce." 

For  a  few  hours  the  explorers  remained  fast  in  this 
trying  position  ;  then  the  gale  ceased,  and  the  pack 
broke  up  sufficiently  to  release  the  ships  Avliich  were 
greatly  damaged — the  Dorothea  being  in  a  foundenng 
condition.  Tliey  made  their  way  to  Fair  Haven, 
and  after  partially  repairing  the  ships  sailed  for  home 
where  they  arrived  in  October.  This  -svas  Franklin's 
first  Arctic  voyage. 


Mr 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FRANKLIXVS  LAND  EXPEDITIONS   TO  THE 
SIIOllES  OF  THE  POLAR  SEA. 


lo 


The  English  Government  having  detenu! net!  upon 
sending  an  Ex]>('dition  from  the  shores  of  Hudson's 
Bay  by  hind,  to  exjdore  tlie  nortliem  coast  of  Aniericu 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Coppermine  lliver  to  tlie  east- 
Avard,  Lieut.  John  Fr.inklin  was  apj)oiuted  its  com- 
mander, and,  with  Surgeon  Jolin  Kichaidscm  and 
Midshii)men  George  Back  and  Rol)ert  Hood,  all  of  tlie 
Royal  Navy,  emhai'ked  on  Sunday  the  'J.'Ul  of  May 
ISll),  at  (Jravsend,  England,  on  board  the  ship  Prince 
oi  ^'jS"  vies,  l)elonging  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Coni])any. 
T!ie  ship  arrived  at  its  destination,  Yoik  Fjictory,  on 
^ho  western  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay,  Aug.  ;5()th,  hav- 
ing narrowly  escaped  total  wreck — being  carried  on 
to  the  rocky  coast  of  Labrador  in  a  dense  fog,  from 
which  position  she  was  extricated  in  a  leaky  cctndition. 

At  this  time  a  violent  competition  for  the  fur  trade 
existed  between  the  North-west  and  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Companies,  Avhich  finally  led  to  the  extinction 
of  the  first  named.  The  officers  and  emjdoyes  of  both 
companies  were  directed  by  the  Government  to  ren- 
der the  exT)lorers  every  aid  needed.  Governor  Wil- 
liams of  the  II.  B.  Co.  received  them  at  ^'ork  Factory, 
and  they  were  soon  fitted  out  with  a  8uital)le  l)oat,  and 
a  crew  nuide  up  mostly  from  the  shi])'8  company.     On 

184 


I>C 


mANKLIN'S   FIRST   LAND   EXTEriTIOlT. 


185 


tlie  9th  of  September,  they  hegan  tlieir  journey  >>y  way 
of  the  rivers  and  hikes,  to  the  moutli  of  tlie  Copper- 
mine River,  distant  over  fifteen  Inindred  miles,  on  the 
shores  of  tlie  Polar  ^^ea.  They  were  soon  afterwards 
overtaken  Ity  hoats  of  the  Company.  A  portion  of 
the  following  history  of  their  travels  is  given  in  the 
%,'ords  of  Franklin  and  his  companions. 

"  We  embarked  at  noon,  and  were  honored  with  a 
salute  of  eight  guns  and  three  cheei-s  from  the  Gov- 
ernor and  all  the  inmates  of  the  fort,  assembled  to 
A\itness  our  departure.  We  gratefully  returned  their 
cheers,  and  then  made  sail,  much  delighted  at  having 
now  commenced  our  voyage  into  the  interior  of 
America.  The  wind  and  tide  failing  us  at  the  dis- 
tance of  six  miles  aljove  the  Factory,  and  the  current 
l)eing  too  rajiid  for  using  oars  to  advantage,  the  crew 
had  to  commence  tracking,  or  dragging  the  boat  by  a 
line,  to  which  they  were  harnessed.  This  operation  is 
extremely  laborious  in  these  rivers.  At  sunset  we 
landed,  and  ])itche(l  the  tent  for  the  night,  having 
made  a  jn'ogress  of  twelve  miles.  A  hu'ge  fire  was 
quickly  kindled,  supper  speedily  i)repared,  and  as 
readily  des])atched,  Avhen  we  retired  Avith  our  biiffalo 
robes  on,  and  enjoyed  a  night  of  souTid  rejiose. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  isth,  the  country  wasclothed 
in  the  livery  of  Avinter,  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  having 
taken  jdace  during  the  night.  It  is  not  easy  for  any 
hut  an  eye-witness  tx)  form  an  adeipiate  idea  of  the  ex- 
ertions of  the  Oi'kney  boatmen  in  the  navigation  of 
this  river.  The  necessity  they  were  under  of  fre- 
(piently  jumping  into  the  water,  to  lift  the  boats  over 
the  rocks,  compels  them  to  remain  tlie  whole  day  in 
wet  clothes,  at  a  season  when  the  temjierature  is  far 
below  the  freezing  point.     The  immense  loads  too, 


188 


PERILS   OF   RIVER   NAVIGATION. 


which  they  cany  over  the  portages,  is  not  more  a  mat- 
ter of  surprise  than  the  alacrity  with  which  they  per- 
foifm  these  laborious  duties. 

"  On  the  22(1,  our  route  led  us  amongst  many  wooded 
islands,  which  lying  in  long  vistas,  produced  scenes  of 
much  beauty.  In  the  course  of  the  day  we  crossed  the 
Upper  Portage,  surmounted  the  Devil's  Landing  Place, 
and  urged  the  boats  with  poles  through  Groundwater 
Creek.  At  the  upper  end  of  this  creek,  our  bowman 
having  given  the  boat  too  broad  a  sheer,  to  avoid  the 
rock,  it  was  caught  on  the  broadside  by  the  cur- 
rent, and,  in  defiance  of  our  utmost  exertions,  hurried 
down  the  rapid.  Fortunately,  however,  it  grounded 
against  a  rock  high  enough  '  >  prevent  the  current 
from  oversetting  it,  and  the  crews  of  the  other  boats 
having  come  to  our  assistance,  we  succeeded,  after 
several  trials,  in  thro^dng  a  rope  to  tbem,  with  which 
they  dragged  our  almost  sinking  vessel  stern  foremost 
up  the  stream,  and  rescued  us  from  our  perilous  situ- 
ation. 

"  The  Painted  Stone  is  a  low  rock,  ten  or  twelve 
yards  across,  remarka})le  for  the  marshy  streams 
which  arise  on  each  side  of  it,  taking  different  courses. 
On  the  one  side,  the  water-course  Avhich  we  have  nav- 
igated from  York  Factory  commences.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  stone  the  Eeliemamls  arises.  Having 
launched  the  boats  over  the  rock,  we  commenced  the 
descent  of  that  river,  and  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Saskatchawan  at  midnight,  October  9th. 

"On  the  morning  of  tlie  20th  we  came  to  a  party  of 
Indians,  encamped  behind  the  bank  of  the  river,  on 
the  borders  of  a  small  marshy  lake.  Here  we  were 
gratified  with  the  view  of  a  ^'eiy  large  tent ;  itj  cover- 
ing was  moose  deer  leather,  with  apertu:"es  for  the  ea- 


FRANKLm's   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


187 


cape  of  the  smoke  from  the  fires  which  were  placed  at 
each  end  ;  a  ledge  of  wood  was  placed  on  the  ground 
on  both  sides  of  the  whole  length  of  the  tent,  within 
which  were  the  sleeping  places,  an-anged  probably  ac- 
cording to  families ;  and  the  drums  and  other  instru- 
ments of  enchantment  were  piled  up  in  the  centre. 
Governor  Williams  gave  a  dram  and  a  piece  of  tobacco 
to  each  of  the  males  of  the  party." 

The  travelers  reached  Cumberland  House,  a  trading 
post  (originally  built  by  Hearne)  October  2 2d,  and  as 
winter  was  setting  in,  making  travel  by  water  imprac- 
ticable, made  a  long  halt  there. 

"  After  the  20th  December  the  weather  became  cold, 
the  thermometer  constantly  below  zero.  Christmas- 
day  was  particularly  stormy ;  but  the  gale  did  not 
prevent  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  festivities  which  are 
annually  given  at  the  Cumberland  House  on  this  day. 
All  the  men  who  had  been  despatched  to  different 
parts  in  search  of  provision  or  furs  returned  to  the  fort 
on  ihe  occasion,  and  "were  regaled  with  a  substantial 
dinner  and  a  dance  in  the  evening. 

"Tlie  new  year  1820  was  ushered  in  by  repeated  dis' 
charges  of  musketry ;  a  ceremony  vhich  has  been  ob- 
served by  the  men  of  both  the  trading  Companies  for 
many  years.  Our  i)arty  dined  Avith  Mr.  Connolly,  and 
were  regaled  witli  a  beaver,  which  we  found  extreme- 
ly  delicate.  In  the  evening  his  men  were  entertained 
with  a  dance,  in  which  the  Canadians  exhil)ited  some 
grace  and  much  agility ;  and  tliey  contrived  to  infuse 
some  portion  of  their  activity  and  spirits  into  the  steps 
of  tlieir  female  companions.  The  half-breed  women 
are  passionately  fond  of  this  amusement." 

On  the  18th  of  January,  Franklin,  Back,  and  John 
Hepburn,  a  seaman,  set  out  on  snow  shoes  for  a  journey 


188 


A  winter's  journey. 


to  Fort  Chipewyan,  eight  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
miles  to  the  north.  They  were  provided  with  two 
carioles  and  two  sledcreb,  with  th^ir  drivers  and  dogs. 
Being  accompanied  by  Mr.  Mackeni:ie,  of  tlie  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company,  who  Avaa g'>ii)j.'  +<>  hh  aha  Crosse, 
witli  four  sledges  under  his  chaif,<\  n ;.  formed  quite 
a  procession,  Id^eping  in  an  Indi  u  filc^  in  the  track  of 
the  man  who  preceded  the  foremost  dogs. 

The  travelers  rested  occasionally  at  th(i  trading  posts 
which  lay  on  their  route.  At  Carlton  House  they 
were  visited  by  the  Stone  Indians,  who  lived  in  that 
section  and  were  famous  for  stealing  eveiy tiling 
they  could  find,  particularly  horses,  -which  they 
maintained  Avere  common  proj)erty  sent  by  the  Al- 
mighty for  the  general  use  of  man.  They  ke])t  in 
amity  Avith  their  neighT)ors  the  Crees,  from  iiioti>'es  oi 
interest ;  and  the  two  tribes  united  in  determirr*!  hos- 
tility against  the  nations  dwelling  to  the  " ,  t>.s(  »■  'xrd. 
wliioli  were  generally  calh^d  Slave  Indian;  — .  v,?,."<.iof 
reproach  aj)plicd  by  the  Crees  to  those  trioe,-  -vMHi.st 
whom  they  liave  waged  successful  wars. 

While  at  Carlton  House,  Franklin  went  six  miles 
to  visit  a  Cree  encani})iiient.  The  chief's  tent  had  been 
arranged  for  the  occasion,  fresh  grass  was  sjiread  on 
the  ground,  and  buffalo  robes  were  placed  oi)j)osite 
the  door  to  sH  on ;  and  a  kettle  was  on  the  fire  to  cook 
meat.  The  chief,  an  old  man,  welcome<;  'lim  with  a 
hearty  shake  of  the  hand  and  the  custon  i  aUitatlon 
of  "Wliat  cheer?" 

"  After  a  few  luinutes'  conversation,  an  invitation 
"was  given  tc  the  cliict  ;v>.d  his  hunters  to  smoke  tlie 
calumet  with  u>,  iis  a  tolo.;  of  our  friendship;  this 
was  loudly  anno>nic*;d  tlirougli  the  camp,  and  ten  men 
from  tlie  other  tents  immediately  joined  our  party. 


r^ 


'Hi 


m 


m 


1! 


i  I 


U 


?<  i 


FRA>'KLI2i's   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


189 


On  their  entrance  the  women  and  children,  whose  pres- 
ence on  such  occasions  is  contrary  to  etiquette,  withdrew. 
The  calumet  having  been  prepared  and  lighted  by  Mr. 
Pruden's  clerk,  was  presented  to  the  chief,  who,  on 
receiving  it,  peiformed  the  following  ceremony  before 
he  commenced  smoking : — He  first  pointed  the  stem 
to  the  south,  then  to  the  west,  north,  and  east,  and  af- 
terwards to  the  heavens,  the  earth,  and  the  fire,  as  an 
oifering  to  the  presiding  spirits; — he  took  three  whiffs 
only,  and  then  passed  the  pipe  to  his  next  companion, 
who  took  the  same  number  of  whiffs,  and  so  did  each 
person  as  it  Avent  round." 

The  Crees  catch  buffalo  by  dri\dng  them  into  a 
large  enclosure  or  pound ;  they  also  hunt  them  on 
horseback ;  and  when  the  creatures  are  very  shy  they 
craA\'l  towards  them  disguised  in  the  skins  of  the  wolf 
— an  animal  with  which  the  buffalo  are  familiar,  and, 
when  in  herds,  not  afraid  of. 

At  their  departure  from  one  trading  post  the  trav- 
elers were  much  amused  by  a  salute  of  musketiy  fired 
by  half-breed  women — the  men  being  all  absent.  At 
another  place  a  dance  was  given  in  their  honor.  On 
the  2Gth  of  March  they  reached  Fort  Chipewyan,  and 
there  halted  for  their  companions  who  were  to  come 
on  with  the  boats  after  navigation  opened. 

Dr.  llicliurdson,  who  with  Mr.  Hood  passed  the 
winter  at  Cumberland  House,  gives  an  interesting 
account  of  his  residence  there,  and  of  the  Ci-ee  Indians, 
who  M'ere  frequent  visitors  at  the  fort  : — 

"Tlie  winter  proved  extremely  seve'-s  to  the  Indians. 
Those  Avho  Avere  able  came  to  the  fort  and  received 
relief ;  })nt  many  who  had  retired  with  their  families 
to  distant  corners,  to  pursue  tlxeir  winter  hunts,  expe- 
rienced all  the  horrora  of  famine.     One  evening  a  poor 


1,^ 


>li 

jP 

m- 

1  ^ 

m 

f       ; 

v  ■  i 

^;  !■ 

1 

i'.  ^'  :■ 

H 

i: 

In  ^ 

m ''  ^ 

;    ,-  1 

D 

1    ^ 

190 


TESTING   A   conjurer's   SKILL, 


Indian  entered  the  North-west  Company's  House,  car- 
rying his  only  child  in  his  amis,  and  followed  by  his 
starving  wife.  They  had  been  hunting  apai-t  from 
the  other  bands,  had  been  unsuccessful,  and  whilst  in 
want  were  seized  with  the  epidemical  disease.  They 
had  walked  several  days  without  eating,  yet  exerting 
themselves  far  beyond  their  strength  that  they  might 
save  the  life  of  the  infant.  It  died  almost  within 
sight  of  the  house.  Mr.  Connolly,  who  Avas  then  in 
charge  of  the  post,  received  them  with  the  utmost 
humanity,  and  instantly  placed  food  before  them  ;  but 
no  lano-uacje  can  describe  the  manner  in  Avhich  the 
miserable  father  dashed  the  morsel  from  his  lips  and 
deplored  the  loss  of  his  child.  IMisery  may  harden 
a  disposition  naturally  bad,  but  it  never  fails  to  soften 
the  heart  of  a  good  man. 

"  Every  Cree  fears  the  medical  or  conjuring  powers 
of  his  neighl)or ;  but  at  the  same  time  exalts  his  own 
attainments  to  the  skies.  *I  am  God-like'  is  a  com- 
mon expression  amongst  them,  and  tliey  prove  tlieir 
divinitysLip  by  eating  live  coals,  and  by  various  tricks 
of  a  similar  nature.  A  medicine  bag  is  an  indispensa- 
ble part  of  a  hunter's  equipment,  and  is,  when  in  the 
hands  of  a  noted  conjurer,  such  an  object  of  terror  to 
the  rest  of  the  tribe,  that  its  possessor  is  enabled  to 
fatten  at  his  ease  upon  the  lal)ors  of  his  deluded 
countrymen. 

"A  fellow  of  this  description  came  to  Cuml»erland 
House  in  the  winter  of  181i>.  Tlie  mighty  conjuror, 
immediately  on  his  arrival  at  tlie  liouse,  ])egan  to 
trumpet  off  hi.s  powers,  boasting,  among  other  things, 
that  although  his  hands  and  feet  were  tied  as  securely 
as  possible,  yet,  when  placed  in  a  conjuring-house,  he 
would  speedily  disengage  himself  by  the  aid  of  two 


HtTNTINO   ON    SNOW   SHOES. 


"'Vgr'vssr 


IllSOriSKI)    IILNTKHS. 


! 


,■  )', 


IS' 


I. 


'I  rfllrt 


'"""^r 


or  tin 
call, 
his  ej 
gi'eat 
"A 
usual 
grour 
of  si: 
and  p 
then 
our  V 
liymr 

respei 
tition 
rount 
remai 
contii 
taker 
and  a 
had  1: 
of  th 
rount 
unde] 
"Goc 
tared 
eter  s 
contii 
half  J 
hadf 
when 
prese 
Hams 


fkaitklin's  first  laot)  expedition. 


191 


or  three  familiar  spirits,  who  were  attendant  on  his 
call.  He  was  instantly  taken  at  his  word,  and  that 
his  exertions  might  not  he  without  an  aim,  a  ca2)ot  or 
gi'eat  coat  was  promised  as  the  reward  of  his  success. 

"A  conjuring-house  having  been  erected  in  the 
usual  form,  that  is,  by  sticking  four  willows  in  the 
ground,  and  tying  their  tops  to  a  hoop  at  the  height 
of  six  or  eight  feet,  he  was  fettered  completely, 
and  placed  in  its  narrow  compartment.  A  moose  skin 
then  being  thrown  over  the  frame,  secluded  him  from 
our  view.  He  forthwith  began  to  chant  a  kind  of 
hymn  in  a  verj'  monotonous  tone. 

"  The  rest  of  the  Indians,  who  seemed  in  some  doubt 
respecting  the  powers  of  a  devil  when  put  in  compe- 
tition with  those  of  a  white  man,  ranged  themselves 
round,  and  watched  the  result  with  anxiety.  Nothing 
remarkable  occurred  for  a  long  time.  The  conjurer 
continued  his  song  at  intervals,  and  it  was  occasionally 
taken  up  by  those  without.  In  this  manner  an  hour 
and  a  half  elapsed ;  but  at  length  our  attention,  which 
had  begun  to  flag,  was  roused  by  the  violent  shaking 
of  the  conjuring-house.  It  was  instantly  whispered 
round  the  circle,  that  at  least  one  devil  had  crept 
under  the  moose-skin.  But  it  proved  to  be  only  the 
"  God-like  man "  trembling  with  cold.  He  had  en- 
tered the  lists,  stripped  to  the  skin,  and  the  thermom- 
eter stood  very  low  that  evening.  His  attempts  were 
continued,  however,  with  considerable  resolution  for 
half  an  hour  longer,  when  he  reluctantly  gave  in.  He 
had  found  no  difficulty  in  slipping  through  the  noose 
when  it  was  formed  by  his  countr^mien  ;  but,  in  the 
present  instance  the  knot  was  tied  by  Governor  Wil- 
liams, who  is  an  expert  sailor. 

"  These  Indians,  however  capable  they  are  of  behav- 


192 


INDIAN   CUSTOMS. 


ing  kindly,  affect  in  their  discourse  to  despise  the 
softer  sex,  and  on  solemn  occasions  will  not  suffer 
them  to  eat  before  them,  or  even  come  into  their 
presence.  In  this  they  are  countenanced  by  the  white 
residents,  most  of  whom  have  Indian  or  half-l)reed 
wives,  but  seem  afraid  of  treating  them  with  the  ten- 
derness or  attention  due  to  eveiy  fenialr,  lest  they 
should  themselves  be  despised  by  the  Indians. 

"  Both  sexes  are  fond  or,  and  very  indulgent  to  their 
children.  The  father  never  punishes  them,  and  if  the 
mother,  more  hasty  in  her  temper,  sometimes  bestows 
a  blow  or  two  on  a  troublesome  child,  her  heart  is 
instantly  softened  by  the  roar  which  follows,  and  she 
mingles  her  tears  with  those  that  streak  the  snioky 
face  of  her  darling.     Tattooing  is  almost  universal. 

"  A  Cree  places  great  reliance  on  his  drum,  and  I 
cannot  adduce  a  stronger  instance  than  that  of  the 
poor  man  who  is  mentioned  in  a  preceding  page,  as 
having  lost  his  only  child  by  famine,  almost  within 
sight  of  the  fort.  Notwithstanding  his  exhausted 
state,  he  had  an  enormous  drum  tied  to  his  back. 

"  It  was  not  very  uncommon  amongst  the  Canadian 
voyagers  for  one  woman  to  be  common  to,  and  main- 
tained at  the  joint  expense  of  two  men;  nor  for  a 
voyager  to  sell  his  wife,  either  for  a  season  or  alto- 
gether, for  a  sum  of  money,  proportioned  to  her 
beauty  and  good  qualities,  but  always  inferior  to  the 
price  of  a  team  of  dogs. 

"  The  chiefs  among  the  Chipewyans  are  now  totally 
without  power.  The  traders,  however,  endeavor  to 
support  their  authority  by  continuing  towards  them 
the  accustomed  marks  of  respect,  hoisting  the  flag, 
and  firing  a  salute  of  musketry  on  their  entering  the 
^rt.  .  i   !  / 


rnANKLIN  S   FIRST  LAND   EXPEDITION. 


193 


n  1 


"  The  Northern  Indians  evince  no  little  vanity,  by 
assuming  to  'themselves  the  comprehensive  title  of 
"The  Peo])le,"  while  they  designate  all  other  nations 
hy  the  njime  of  their  particular  country.  They  sup- 
pose that  they  originally  sprang  from  a  dog ;  and, 
ahoutfive  years  ago,  a  superstitious  fanatic  so  strongly 
pressed  ii])on  their  minds  the  impropriety  of  emj)loy- 
ing  these  animals,  to  which  they  were  related,  for 
purposes  of  labor,  that  they  universally  resolved  against 
using  them  any  more,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  de- 
stroyed them.  •  They  now  have  to  drag  everything 
themselves  on  sledges. 

"This  tri])e,  since  its  present  intimate  connection 
with  the  traders,  has  discontinued  its  war  excur.-ions 
against  the  Esquimaux,  but  they  still  speak  of  that 
nation  in  terms  of  the  most  inveterate  hatred." 

On  the  13tli  of  July,  Richardson  and  Hood  ari'ived 
at  Fort  Chipewyan  with  two  canoes,  and  were 
warmly  greeted  by  Franklin  and  Back,  who  Avere 
waiting  for  them.  Final  arrangements  were  now 
made  for  the  voyage  northward  ;  on  the  18th  of  July 
the  pai'ty  set  out,  and  arrived  at  Fort  T>rovidence, 
north  of  the  Great  Slave  Lake,  on  the  ^"'lu   if  July. 

Here  the  travelers  were  visited  by  an  Indian  chief 
named  Akaitcho,  who,  Avith  some  of  his  men  as  hunt- 
ers and  guides,  was  to  accompany  the  expedition. 

"  As  Ave  Avere  informed  that  external  a])pearances 
made  lasting  impressions  upon  the  Indians,  Ave  ])re- 
pared  f(jr  the  intervieAV  by  decorating  ourselves  in  uni- 
form, and  suspending  a  medal  round  each  of  our  necks. 
Our  tents  had  been  previously  pitched,  and  over 
one  of  them  a  silken  union  flag  Avas  hoisted.  Soon 
after  noon,  on  July  30th,  several  Indian  canoes  Avere 
seen  advancing  in  a  regular  line,  and  on  their  a})proach. 


194 


INTERVIEW    M'lTn   AKAITCIIO. 


the  chief  was  discovered  in  the  headnioat,  which  was 
paddled  by  two  men.  On  landing  at*  the  fort,  the 
chief  assumed  a  veiy  grave  aspect,  and  walked  up  to 
Mr.  Wentzel  with  a  measured  and  dignified  step, 
looking  neither  to  the  light  nor  to  the  left,  at  the 
persons  wlio  had  as.seml)led  on  the  beach  to  witness 
his  debarkation,  but  preserving  the  same  immovability 
of  countenance  until  he  reached  the  hall,  and  was  in- 
troduced to  the  officers.  When  h  had  smoked  his 
pipe,  drank  a  small  portion  of  spi  md  water  him- 
self, and  issued  a  glass  to  each  of  L.  .uipanions,  who 
had  seated  themselves  on  the  floor,  he  commenced  his 
harangue,  l)y  mentiouing  the  circumstances  that  led 
to  his  agreeing  to  accompany  the  expedition,  an  en- 
gagement which  he  was  quite  prepared  to  fulfill. 

"  Akaitcho  and  the  guides  having  cominunicated  all 
the  information  they  possessed  on  the  different  points 
to  which  our  questions  had  been  directed,  I  placed 
my  medal  round  the  neck  of  the  chief,  and  the  officers 
presented  theirs  to  an  elder  brother  of  his  and  the 
two  guides.  Being  confeiTed  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  huntei-s,  their  acquisition  was  highly  gi-atifyiug  to 
them,  but  they  studiously  avoided  any  great  ex]>res- 
sion  of  joy,  because  such  an  exposure  would  have 
been  unbecoming  the  dignity  which  the  senior  Indians 
assume  during  a  conference.  '     ■     ' 

"  We  presented  to  the  chief,  the  two  guides,  and 
the  seven  hunters,  who  had  engaged  to  accompany  us, 
some  cloth,  blankets,  tobacco,  knives,  daggei-s,  besides 
other  useful  iron  materials,  and  a  gun  to  each  ;  also  a 
keg  of  veiy  Aveak  spirits  and  water,  which  they  kept 
until  the  evening,  as  they  had  to  try  their  guns  before 
dark,  and  make  the  necessary  preparations  for  com- 
mencing the  journey  on  the  following  day.    The  In- 


FRANKLINS   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


195 


(lians,  however,  did  not  leave  us  on  the  next  day,  as 
the  chief  was  desirous  of  ])eing  present,  witli  his  paiiy, 
at  the  dance,  which  was  given  in  tlie  evening  to  our 
Canadian  voyagers.  They  Avere  highly  entertained  hy 
the  vivacity  and  agility  displayed  by  our  companions 
in  their  singing  and  dancing  :  and  especially  by  their 
imitating  the  gestures  of  a  Canadian,  wlio  placed  him- 
self in  the  most  ludicrous  postures ;  and,  whenever 
this  was  done,  the  gravity  of  the  chief  gave  Avay  to 
violent  bursts  of  laughter.  In  return  for  the  gratifi- 
cation Akaitcho  had  enjoyed,  he  desired  his  }oung 
men  to  exhibit  the  Dog-llib  Indian  dance." 

Franklin  and  his  three  companions,  with  Frederic 
Wentzel  of  the  North-west  Co.,  John  Hepburn,  sev- 
enteen Canadian  voyagers,  and  three  Indian  interpre- 
ters, left  Fort  Providence  on  the  2d  of  August,  in 
three  canoes.  Tliere  was  also  a  smaller  canoe  to  con- 
vey the  wives  of  three  of  the  voyagers,  and  their  three 
children,  in  company  with  a  fleet  of  Indian  canoes 
they  paddled  up  the  Yellow  Knife  Kiver,  toward  a 
country  which  had  never  been  visited  by  Europeans. 

"  Akaitcho  caused  himself  to  be  paddled  by  his 
slave,  a  young  man,  of  the  Dog-llib  nation,  whom  he 
had  taken  by  force  from  his  friends ;  when  he  thought 
himself,  however,  out  of  reach  of  our  observation,  he 
laid  aside  a  good  deal  of  his  state,  and  assisted  in  the 
labor ;  and  after  a  few  day's  further  acquaintance 
with  us,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  j)addle  in  oiu'  presence, 
or  even  carry  his  canoe  on  the  portages." 

The  party  met  with  some  hardships,  were  at 
times  short  of  proAnsions,  and  some  of  the  voyagers 
showed  a  spirit  of  insubordination  which  Franklin 
promptly  quelled  by  threats  of  severest  punishment. 
On  the  20th  of  August  they  halted  on  the  bank  of 


196 


TTTR   "WINTER   AT   FORT  ENTERPRISE. 


Winter  Lake,  and  built  Fort  Enterprise,  where  they 
passed  the  winter;  its  distance  from  Fort  Chipe^vyau 
was  533  miles. 

Franklin  was  anxious  to  push  on  to  the  sea  that  fall, 
but  Avas  forced  to  relinquish  the  idea  from  the  refusal 
of  Akaitcho  to  go  with  him  owing  to  scarcity  of  game 
on  the  route. 

On  the  ISth  of  October,  Mr.  Back  and  Mr.  Went- 
zel,  set  out  for  Fort  Providence,  accompanied  by  two 
voyagers,  Beaubarlant  and  Belanger,  and  two  Indians, 
with  their  wives. 

"  On  the  23d  of  November,  Belanger  returned  alone; 
he  had  walked  constantly  for  the  last  six-and-thirty 
hours,  leaving  his  Indian  companions  encamped  at  the 
last  woods,  they  being  imwilling  to  accompany  him 
across  the  barren  grounds  during  the  storm  that  had 
prevailed  for  several  days,  and  blew  with  unusual  vio- 
lence on  the  morning  of  his  arrival.  His  locks  were 
matted  with  snow,  and  he  was  incrusted  with  ice  from 
head  to  foot,  so  that  we  scarcely  recognized  him  when 
he  burst  in  upon  us.  We  Avelcomed  him  Avith  the 
usual  shake  of  the  hand,  but  were  imable  to  give  him 
the  glass  of  rum  which  every  voyager  receives  on  his 
arrival  at  a  trading  post." 

Ou  the  20th  of  October,  Akaitcho,  with  his  party 
came  into  camp,  owing  to  the  deer  having  gone  south; 
and  on  the  5th  of  Nov"ml)er,  fishing  liad  to  be  relin- 
quished. As  so  large  a  number  of  peoj)le  could  not  be 
provided  for  at  the  place,  the  Indians  left  again  on 
the  10  th  of  December.  •  ; 

'•  Kcskarrali  the  guide,  with  his  wife  and  daughter 
remained  behind.  The  daughter  whom  we  designa- 
ted Green-Stockings  from  her  dn!ss,  is  considered  by 
her  tribe  to  be  a  great  beauty.     Mr.  Hood  drew  an  ac- 


FRANICLIN  8   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


197 


curate  portrait  of  her,  although  her  mother  "vras  averse 
to  her  sitting  for  it.  She  Avas  afraid,  she  said,  that 
her  daiigliter's  likeness  would  induce  the  great  eliief 
who  resided  in  England  to  send  for  the  original.  The 
youTig  lady,  hoAvever,  was  undeterred  hy  any  such 
fear.  She  has  already  been  an  object  of  contest  be- 
tween her  countrymen,  and  although  under  sixteen 
years  of  age,  has  belonged  successively  to  two  hus- 
l)ands,  and  woidd  probably  have  been  the  'wife  of 
many  more,  if  her  mother  had  not  required  hei-  ser- 
vices as  a  nurse." 

Of  their  winter  residence  at  this  place  i'ranklin 
says:— 

"  The  Sabbath  was  always  a  day  of  rest  with  us ; 
the  woodmen  were  required  to  provide  for  the  exigen- 
cies of  that  day  on  Saturday,  and  the  party  "svere 
dressed  in  their  best  attire.  Divine  service  •  was  reg- 
uliuly  performed,  and  the  Canadians  attended,  and 
l)ehaved  with  great  decorum,  although  they  were  all 
llonuin  Catholics,  and  l)ut  little  acquainted  ^with  the 
language  in  ^vhich  the  prayers  Avere  read. 

"  Our  diet  consisted  almost  entirely  of  the  reindce:- 
meat,  varied  twice  a  week  by  fish,  and  occasionally  1  y 
a  little  flour,  but  we  ha<l  no  vegetables  of  any  descrip- 
tion. On  tlie  Sunday  mornings  Ave  drank  a  cup  of 
chocolate,  but  our  greatest  luxury  Avas  tea  (w  ithout 
sugar),  of  which  AA^e  regularly  partook  twice  a  day. 
With  reindeer's  fat,  and  strips  of  cotton  shirts,  Ave 
formed  candles;  and  Hepburn  ac(piired  considerable 
skill  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  from  Avood-ashes,  fat, 
and  salt." 

On  the  27th  t»f  December,  jVfr.  "Wcntzel  arri\cd 
with  twi>  Es(piimaux  intcqireters  Avho  had  l)een  en- 
gaged.    Their   >]nglish    names  Avere    Augustus   and 


ii^ 


m 


198 


KECEPTION   OF  A   CHIEF. 


Junius.  The  former  spoke  English.  Parties  also  ar- 
rived from  time  to  time  bringing  on  the  stores  which 
had  heen  left  at  Fort  Providence. 

"  On  the  17th  of  March,  Mr.  Back  returned  from 
Foil;  Chipewyan,  having  traveled  since  he  started  out 
more  tli?m  one  thousand  miles  on  foot,  with  no  shel- 
ter at  night  excepting  a  blanket  and  deer  skin,  and 
often  without  food.  The  Indians  had  sometimes  given 
him  a  fish  or  bird  which  they  caught,  with  the  remark, 
"  we  are  accustomed  to  starvation,  and  you  are  not." 

"  On  the  21st  of  April,  all  our  men  returned  from 
the  Indians,  and  Akaitcho  was  on  his  way  to  the  fort. 
In  the  afternoon  two  of  his  young  men  arrived  to  an- 
nounce his  visit,  and  to  request  that  he  might  be  re- 
ceived with  a  salute  and  other  marks  of  respect  that 
he  had  been  accustomed  to  on  visiting  Fort  Providence 
in  the  Spring.  I  complied  with  his  desire  although  I 
regretted  the  expenditure  of  ammunition,  and  sent 
the  young  men  away  with  the  customary  present  of 
powder  to  enable  him  to  return  the  salute,  some  to- 
bacco, vermilion  to  paint  their  faces,  a  .  comb,  and  a 
lookinfj-cclass. 

"  At  eleven  Akaitcho  arrived  ;  upon  the  first  notice 
of  his  appearance  the  flag  Avas  hoisted  at  the  fort,  and 
upon  his  nearer  approach,  a  number  of  muskets  were 
fired  by  a  party  of  our  j)eople,  and  returned  by  his 
young  men.  Akaitcho  prece'led  by  his  standard- 
bearer,  led  the  party,  and  advanced  with  a  slow  and 
solemn  step  to  the  door  wliere  Mr.  Wentzel  and  I  re- 
ceived him.  The  faces  of  tlie  party  were  daubed  with 
vermilion,  the  old  men  having  a  spot  on  the  riglit 
cheek,  the  young  ones  on  the  left.  Akaitcho  himself 
was  not  painted.  On  entering  he  sat  down  on  a  chest, 
the  rest  placing  themselves  in  a  circle  on  the  floor. 


FRANKLIN  8    FIRST   LAND    EXPEDITION. 


199 


Tlie  pipe  was  passed  once  or  twice  round,  and  in  the 
meantime  a  bowl  of  spirits  and  water,  and  a  present 
considerable  for  our  circumstances,  of  cloth,  blankets, 
capots,  shirts,  ifec,  was  placed  on  the  floor  for  the 
chiefs  acceptance,  and  distribution  amongst  his  peo- 
ple. Akaitcho  then  commenced  his  speech,  but  I  re- 
gret to  say,  that  it  was  very  discouraging,  and  indi- 
cated that  he  had  parted  with  his  good  humor,  at 
least  since  his  March  visit." 

On  the  4th  of  June,  a  part  of  the  company  under 
Richardson,  started  northward;  some  dragged  stores 
on  sledgBs,  and  others  earned  them  on  their  backs. 
Another  j)arty  started  June  14th,  with  canoes  dragged 
hy  men  and  dogs.  On  th*'  21  st,  the  whole  expedition, 
with  Akaitcho  and  som«  ''  his  hunters,  was  encamp- 
ed at  Point  Lake.  The  lii^iian  familif's  and  the  rest 
of  the  tribe  had  gone  off  to  a  largf^  ..ike  to  si)en<l  the 
summer,  and  Akaitcho  who  had  ex]"'nded  the  am- 
munition given  to  him,  finally  admitted  that  nearly 
all  of  it  had  been  given  to  those  who  had  g«>ne  with 
the  Indian  families;  Franklin  was  greatly  distressed  at 
this  occurrence. 

Five  hunters  were  now  sent  ahead  to  hunt;  and  on 
the  2oth  of  June  the  journey  was  resumed,  Aknit  \o 
and  five  other  Indians  accompanying  the  tia  viers. 
On  the  29th  "  our  attention  was  directed  to  some  pine 
l)ranches  scattered  on  the  ice,  which  jn-oved  to  be 
marks  placed  by  our  hunters,  to  guide  us  to  the  spot 
wlie  v3  they  had  deposited  the  carcasses  of  two  snudl 
(leer.  Tliis  sui>ply  was  very  seasonable,  and  the  men 
cheei-fuUy  dragged  the  additional  weight." 

On  the  1st  of  July  they  embarked  on  the  Copj>er- 
mine  River,  which  was  there  two  hundred  yards  wide 
and  ten  feet  deep,  and  run  very  rapidly  over  a  rocky 

12 


'-I     j 

if<{ 


I'l; 


800 


ENCOITNTER   WITH  ESQUIMAUX. 


bottom,  Tliey  now  descended  the  river  to  a  place 
named  by  Hearne,  the  Bloody  Falls,  in  consequence 
of  a  dreadful  massacre  there  of  Esquimaux  by  the 
Chipewyan  Indians.  As  it  was  a  customary  resort  of 
Esquimaux,  Junius  and  Augustus  were  sent  forward, 
armed  with  concealed  pistols,  and  with  beads,  looking 
glasses,  etc.,  to  conciliate  their  countrymen  by  pres- 
ents. They  fell  in  with  a  small  party  of  them,  who 
appeared  to  be  mild,  peaceable  creatui-es ;  but  they 
disappeared  in  the  night. 

"On  the  morning  of  the  16th,  just  as  the  crew  were 
putting  the  canoe  in  the  water,  Adam  arrived  in  the 
utmost  consternation,  and  infonned  us  that  a  party  of 
Esquimaux  were  pursuing  the  men  whom  he  had  sent 
to  collect  floats.  The  orders  for  embarking  were  in- 
stantly countermanded,  and  we  went  with  a  party  of 
men  to  their  rescue.  We  soon  met  our  people  return- 
ing at  a  slow  pace,  and  learned  that  they  had  come 
unawares  upon  the  Esquimaux  party,  which  consisted 
of  six  men,  with  their  women  and  children,  who  were 
traveling  towards  the  rapid  Anth  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  dogs  cariying  their  l^aggage.  The  women 
hid  themselves  on  the  first  alarm,  but  the  men  ad- 
vanced, and  stopping  at  some  distance  from  our  men, 
began  to  dance  in  a  circle,  tossing  up  their  hands  in 
the  air  and  accompanying  their  motions  with  much 
shouting,  to  siofnify,  I  conceive,  their  desire  of  peace. 
Our  men  saluted  them  by  pulling  off  their  hats,  and 
making  bow  s  but  neither  party  was  willing  to  ap- 
proach the  other ;  and,  at  length,  the  Esquimaux  re- 
tired to  tlie  hill,  from  whence  they  had  descended 
when  first  seen. 

"  We  proceeded  in  the  hope  of  gaining  an  interview 
with  them,  but  lest  our  appearance  in  a  body  should 


'>%«: 


m 


i 


i  t 


Ill 

I- 


r: 

9  * 


1 


I 

I 

Li  j.i 


n 


-'i 


1^.: 


it    , 


u 


f 

im 


li! 


franklin's  first  land  expedition. 


201 


!   'i 


alarm  them,  we  advanced  in  a  long  line,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  Augustus.  We  were  led  to  their  bag- 
gage, which  they  had  deserted,  by  the  howling  of  the 
dogs ;  and  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  we  found,  lying 
behind  a  stone,  an  old  man,  who  was  too  infirm  to  ef- 
fect his  escape  with  the  rest.  He  was  much  terrified 
■when  Augustus  advanced,  and  probably  expected  im- 
mediate death ;  but  that  the  fatal  blow  might  rot  be 
unrevenged,  he  seized  his  spear,  and  made  a  thrust 
with  it  at  his  supposed  enemy.  Augustus,  however, 
easily  repressed  his  feeble  effort,  and  soon  calmed  his 
fears  by  presenting  him  Avith  some  pieces  of  iron,  and 
assuring  him  of  his  friendly  intentions." 

On  the  I7th,  nine  Esquimaux  appeared  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  opposite  the  encampment,  cairying  their 
canoes  on  their  backs,  but  they  fled  on  seeing  the 
t^nts.  Not  only  were  these  people  alarmed,  but  the 
Indians  also  were  so  temfied  that  they  insisted  on  re- 
turning the  next  day ;  nor  could  Franklin  induce  even 
one  hunter  to  remain  with  him.  The  interpreters  too 
were  much  frightened  and  requested  their  discharge ; 
but  it  was  refused,  and  they  were  closely  watched  to 
prevent  their  desertion. 

The  reduced  party  proceeded,  and  on  the  18th  of 
July  reached  the  Polar  Sea.  Tlie  Canadians  were 
much  interested  at  the  first  view,  although  despondent, 
and  Hepburn,  the  English  sailor,  was  quite  elated  at 
beholding  again  his  favorite  element. 

On  the  19th,  Mr.  Wentzel  and  four  discharged  Ca- 
nadians started  on  their  return  southward.  The  party 
now  numbered  about  twenty,  who,  in  two  canoes  with 
fifteen  day's  provisions,  embarked  2l8t  July,  to  navi- 
gate the  sea  to  the  eastward. 

They  proceeded  on,  along  a  dreaiy  coast,  making  new 


1  ii 


i':  il 


I 


202 


THE  EETURN  JOURNEY  COMMENCED 


discoveries,  but  meeting  no  Esquimaux  from  wliom 
they  had  hoped  to  get  provisions,  which  were  rapidly 
diminishing.  A  few  deer  and  a  bear  were  caught,  and 
a  veiy  few  fish. 

On  the  30th  of  July  they  passed  the  mouth  of  a 
river  which  they  named  Hood.  On  the  5th  of  Au- 
gust they  reached  the  mouth  of  a  river  which  is  no^v 
known  as  Back,  or  Great  Fish  River. 

On  the  15  th  of  August  the  canoes  were  found  to  be 
in  an  unseaworthy  condition,  and  there  was  only 
three  day's  supply  of  provisions  remaining,  Avith  poor 
prospects  of  obtaining  more.  "  It  was  evident  that  the 
time  spent  in  exploring  the  Arctic  and  Melville  Sounds 
and  Bathurst's  Inlet,  had  precluded  the  hope  of  reach- 
ing Repulse  Bay,  which  at  the  outset  of  the  voyage 
we  had  fondly  cherished ;  and  it  was  equally  obvious 
that  as  our  distance  from  any  of  the  trading  establish- 
ments would  increase  as  we  proceeded,  the  hazardous 
traverse  across  the  barren  grounds,  which  we  should 
have  to  make,  if  compelled  to  abandon  the  canoes  up- 
on any  part  of  the  coast,  would  becon^e  greater." 

The  most  eastern  land  seen  was  Point  Turn-again, 
distant  f  rona  Coppermine  River  by  the  way  they  came 
nearly  six  hundred  miles.  The  return  journey  was 
begun  on  the  2 2d  of  August,  and  on  the  25th  the 
party  encamped  on  the  banks  of  Hood's  River,  at  the 
foot  of  the  firat  rapids.  "  Here  terminated  our  voyage 
on  the  Arctic  sea,  during  which  we  had  gone  over  six 
hundred  and  fifty  geographical  miles.  Our  Canadian 
voyagei-s  could  not  restrain  their  expressions  of  joy  at 
having  turned  their  backs  on  the  sea,  and  they  passed 
the  evening  talking  over  their  past  adventures  with 
much  humor  and  no  little  exaggeration.  Tlie  consid- 
eration that  the  most  painful,  and  certainly  the  most 


i^fr. 


FBANKLmS   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


208 


hazardous,  part  of  the  journey  was  yet  to  come,  did 
not  depress  their  spirits  at  all."  ,     ' 

At  a  few  miles  up  Hood's  River,  it  runs  for  about 
a  mile  through  a  narrow  chasm,  the  walls  of  which 
are  upward  of  two  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  quite 
perpendicular.  Through  this  chasm  the  river  precip- 
itates itself  in  two  magnificient  falls,  close  to  each 
other.  The  large  canoes  not  being  suited  to  this  river, 
two  smaller  ones  were  constructed  out  of  their  mate- 
rials, to  be  used  when  crossing  rivers. 

The  construction  of  the  new  canoes  detained  them 
till  the  first  of  September,  when  it  was  decided  to  make 
a  direct  line  to  the  part  of  Point  Lake  opposite  the 
Springencampment,  distant  only  149  miles  in  a  straight 
line  from  where  they  were.  Having  proceeded  twelve 
miles,  a  snow-storm  obliged  them  to  encamp,  and  on 
the  3d,  the  last  piece  of  pemmican  and  a  little  arrow- 
root were  distributed  for  supper. 

The  violence  of  the  stonn  continued  till  the  7th ;  and 
for  several  days,  ha^^ng  nothing  to  eat,  and  no  means 
of  making  a  fire,  they  remained  whole  days  in  bed, 
and,  with  a  temperature  of  20^*,  without  fire,  the 
party  weak  from  fasting,  their  garments  and  tents 
frozen  stiff  and  the  ground  covered  with  three  feet  of 
snow,  their  condition  was  very  unfit  for  traveling  in 
such  a  country.  On  tiying  to  proceed,  Franklin  was 
seized  with  a  fainting-fit,  in  consequence  of  exhaust- 
ion and  sudden  exposure  to  the  wind,  but  on  eating  a 
nioi-sel  of  portable  soup  he  recovered.  One  of  the 
canoes  was  broken  to  pieces,  and  a  fire  was  made  with 
it  to  cook  the  remnant  of  portable  soup  and  aiTOW- 
root ;  a  scanty  meal  after  three  days'  fasting. 

The  next  two  days  the  surface  of  the  barren 
grounds  was  covered  Avith  large  stones,  bearing  a 


'  in  i" 


iH     -s 


nffl  »■ 


204 


CROSSING   A  ErVTER. 


licLen  which  the  Canadians  call  tripe  de  roclie  or,  rock- 
tripe,  a  substance  to  ^vhich  the  travelers  may  be  said 
to  owe  their  safety  and  existence ;  without  it  they 
must  all  have  died  of  starvation. 

An  unknown  river  was  crossed  on  the  9th.  The 
canoe  being  put  into  the  water  was  found  very  leaky, 
but  it  was  managed  with  much  dexterity  by  St.  Ger- 
main, Adam,  and  Peltier,  wlio  fenied  over  one  pas- 
senger at  a  time,  causing  him  to  lie  flat  in  its  bottom. 
The  next  day  a  musk-ox  was  shot.  To  skin  and  cut 
up  the  animal  was  the  work  of  a  few  minutes.  The 
contents  of  its  stomach  were  devoured  upon  the  spot, 
and  the  raw  intestines,  which  were  next  attacked, 
were  pronounced  by  the  most  delicate  to  be  excellent. 

On  the  13th  several  of  the  party  were  sick  from 
eating  rock-tripe,  and  it  was  then  discovered  that  the 
fishing  nets  had  been  thrown  away  by  some  one,  and 
that  the  flt)ats  had  been  burned,  thus  depriving  the 
party  of  their  chief  resource  for  foe  ^. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  while  the  officer  were 
assembled  round  a  small  Are,  Perrault,  one  of  the  voy- 
agers, presented  each  of  them  with  a  small  piece  of 
meat,  which  he  had  saved  from  his  allowance.  "It 
Was  received,"  sa}'s  Franklin,  "  ^vith  great  thankful- 
ness, and  such  an  act  of  self-denial  and  kindness,  be- 
ing totally  unexpected  in  a  Canadian  voyager,  filled 
our  eyes  with  tears." 

On  the  same  day,  Franklin,  St.  Germain,  and  Be- 
langer,  embarked  in  the  canoe  to  cross  the  river,  and 
when  in  the  midst  of  it,  the  current  and  a  strong 
breeze  drove  the  canoe  to  the  veiy  brink  of  a  tremen- 
dous rapid.  Belanger,  unluckily,  applied  liis  paddle  to 
avert  the  danger  of  being  forced  down  the  rapid ;  he 
lost  his  balance,  and  the  canoe  overset  in  the  midst  of 
the  rapid. 


FRANKLIN  8   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


205 


"We  fortunately  kept  hold  of  it,  until  we  touched 
a  rock  where  the  water  did  not  reacli  higher  than  our 
waists;  here  we  ke})t  our  footing,  notwithstanding  the 
strength  of  the  current,  until  the  water  was  emptied 
out  of  the  canoe.  Belanger  then  held  the  canoe  steady 
whilst  St.  Germain  placed  me  in  it,  and  afterwards 
embarked  himself  in  a  veiy  dexterous  manner.  It 
was  impossible,  however,  to  embark  Belanger,  as  the 
canoe  would  have  been  hurried  down  the  rapid,  the 
moment  he  should  have  raised  his  foot  from  the  rock 
on  which  he  stood.  We  were,  therefore,  compelled 
to  leave  him  in  his  perilous  situation.  We  had  not 
gone  twenty  yards  before  the  canoe,  striking  on  a  sud- 
den rock,  went  down.  The  place  being  shallow,  we 
were  again  enabled  to  empty  it,  and  the  third  attempt 
brought  us  to  the  nliore. 

"In  the  mean  time  Belanger  was  suffering  extreme- 
ly, immersed  to  his  middle  in  the  centre  of  a  rapid, 
the  upper  pait  of  his  body  covered  with  wet  clothes, 
exposed  in  a  temperature  not  much  above  zero,  to  a 
strong  breeze.  He  called  piteously  for  relief,  and  St. 
Germain  on  his  return  endeavored  to  embark  him,  but 
in  vain.  The  canoe  was  hurried  down  the  rapid,  and 
when  he  landed  he  was  rendered  by  the  cold  incapa- 
ble of  further  exertion,  and  Adam  attempted  to  em- 
bark Belanger,  but  found  it  impossible.  An  attempt 
was  next  made  +o  carry  out  to  him  a  line,  made  of  the 
shngs  of  the  men's  loads.  This  also  failed,  the  cur- 
rent acting  so  strongly  upon  it,  as  to  i)revent  the  canoe 
from  steering,  and  it  was  finally  broken  and  carried 
down  the  stream.  At  length,  Avlien  Belanger's  strength 
seemed  almost  exhausted,  the  canoe  reached  liim  with 
a  small  cord  belonging  to  one  of  the  nets,  and  he  was 
dragged  perfectly  senseless  through  the  rapid.     By 


1 

1!!  !1 

h 

,1 

\ 

1 

1 
1 

i 

■  \ 

1 

i 

1 

' 

' 

» ■ 

• 

i 

-.1 

■ 

1 

'  '-\ 

■    ! 

:-\ 

it 

• 

T 

\:  1 

i;-  : 
'  ! 

206 


XXOITINO  ADVKNTUUES. 


the  direction  of  Dr.  Richardsun,  lie  ^va3  instantly 
stripped,  and  being  rolled  up  in  blanlvetn,  two  men 
undressed  themselves  and  went  to  bed  with  h'.^w,  but 
it  was  some  hours  beiure  he  recovered  his  ANannth  and 
sensations.        '  • 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe  ray  sensations  as  I  wit- 
nessed the  various  unsuccessful  attempirf  to  relieve 
Belanger.  The  distance  prevented  my  seeing  dif  tinct- 
ly  what  was  going  on,  and  I  continued  pacing  up  and 
down  upon  the  rock  on  which  I  landed,  regan^le.ss  of 
the  coldness  of  my  drenched  and  stiffening  ''arnents. 
The  canoe,  in  every  attempt  to  reach  him,  was  Hurried 
doAvn  the  rapid,  and  was  lost  to  the  view  amongst  the 
rocky  islets,  with  a  rapidity  that  seemed  to  threaten 
certain  destruction  ;  once,  indeed,  I  fancied  that  I  saw 
it  overwhelmed  in  the  waves.  Such  an  event  would 
have  been  fatal  to  the  whole  party.  Separated  as  I 
was  from  my  companions,  without  gun,  ammunition, 
hatchet,  or  the  means  of  making  a  fire,  and  in  wet 
clothes,  my  doom  would  have  been  speedily  sealed. 
My  companions  too,  driven  to  the  necessity  of  coast- 
ing the  lake,  must  have  sunk  under  the  fatigue  of 
rounding  its  innumerable  arms  and  bays,  which,  as 
we  have  learned  from  the  Indians,  are  very  extensive. 
By  the  goodness  of  Providence,  however,  we  were 
spared  at  that  time,  and  some  of  us  have  been  permit- 
ted to  offer  up  our  thanksgivings,  in  a  civilized  land, 
fur  the  signal  deliverances  we  then  and  afterward  ex- 
perienced. 

"  On  the  20th  we  got  into  a  hilly  country,  and  the 
marching  became  much  more  laborious.  Mr.  Hood 
was  particularly  weak,  and  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
his  station  of  second  in  the  line,  which  Dr.  Richard- 
son  now  took,  to  direct  the  leading  man  in  keeping 


n\ 


franklin's  riRST  lAND   EXT'EPTTTOI». 


2or 


the  Jippointed  course.  I  Avas  also  un;i])le  to  keep  pace 
with  tlie  men,  who  piit  forth  their  utmost  s[)ee(l,  en- 
coiirflgod  by  tlie  hope,  whieli  our  rei'lvoning  hud  led  us 
to  form,  of  Heeing  Point  Lake  in  the  evening,  but  we 
were  obligvMl  to  oncanip  without  g;iiMiiig  a  view  of  it." 

On  tlie  22(1  they  came  to  a  hirL-;*^  lake  and  foHowed 
its  coast  southerly.  As  the  Avind  wan  ntrong  it  was 
difficult  to  cany  the  canoe  over  the  hills,  and  it  got 
several  falls,  and  Peltier  and  Vailhint.  \vho  w^ere  canT- 
ing  it,  fnally  left  it  behind.  "The  anguish  this 
intelligence  occasioned  may  be  conceived,  but  it  is  be- 
yond my  ]>ower  to  descnbe  it.  Inii)i'e.ssed,  however, 
with  the  necessity  of  taking  it  forward,  even  in  the 
state  these  men  represented  it  to  be,  Ave  urgently  de- 
sired them  to  fetch  it ;  but  they  declined  going,  and 
the  strength  of  the  officers  was  inadecjuate  to  the  task. 
To  their  infatuated  obstinacy  on  this  occasion,  a 
great  portion  of  the  melancholy  cii'cumstances  which 
attended  our  subsequent  progi-ess  may,  perhaps,  be  at- 
tributed. The  men  now  seemed  l(»st  to  all  lu^pe  of 
being  preserved ;  and  all  the  arguments  we  could  use 
failed  in  stimulating  them  to  the  least  exertion. 

"  After  consuming  the  remains  of  the  bones  and  horns 
of  the  deer  we  resumed  our  march,  and  in  the  eve- 
ning reached  a  contracted  part  of  the  lake,  Avhich  per- 
ceiving to  be  shallow,  we  forded  and  encamped  on 
the  o})posite  side.  Heavy  rain  began  soon  afterAvards, 
and  continued  all  the  night.  On  the  following  morn- 
ing the  rain  had  so  Avasted  the  snow,  that  the  tracks 
of  Mr.  Back  and  his  companions,  Avho  had  gone  before 
Avith  tlie  hunters,  were  traced  Avith  difficulty;  and  the 
frequent  showers  during  the  day  almost  obliterated 
them.  The  men  became  furious  at  the  apprehension 
of  being  deserted  by  the  hunters,  and  some  of  the 


Ir     I 


ill:  HI 


J 


' ,'  <i 


208 


ATTEirPTS   TO   OBOSa  THE  COPPERMINE. 


n  5  i 


1^ 


strongest  throwing  clown  their  bundles,  prepared  to 
set  out  after  them,  intending  to  leave  the  more  weak 
to  follow  as  they  could.  The  entreaties  and  threats 
of  the  officers,  however,  prevented  their  executing 
this  mad  scheme ;  but  not  before  Solomon  Belanger 
was  despatched  with  orders  for  Mr.  Bade  to  halt  until 
we  should  join  hmi.  The  bounty  of  Providence  was 
most  seasonably  manifested  to  us  next  morning,  in 
our  killing  iive  small  deer  out  of  a  herd,  which  came 
in  sight  as  we  were  on  the  point  of  starting.  This 
unex])ected  supply  reanimated  the  drooping  spirits  of 
our  men  and  fille<l  every  heart  with  gratitude." 

On  the  26th  of  September  they  reached  the  Copper- 
mine River ;  and  now  for  the  first  time  the  men  saw 
their  folly  in  refusing  to  bring  the  canoe.  In  hopes 
of  finding  some  material  for  building  a  raft,  they  pro- 
ceeded along  the  river  to  the  east  end  of  Puint  Lake 
where  they  encamped.  Here  Mr.  Back  and  the  inter- 
preters Avere  sent  forward  to  hunt,  and  to  cominmiicate 
with  the  Indians  supposed  to  be  at  Fort  Enterprise. 
The  balance  of  tlie  party  started  the  same  day  in  n 
straggling  and  desjiondent  mood.  The  ])utrid  carcass 
of  a  deer  whicli  they  found,  furnished  u  su])per  and 
greatly  revived  the  spirits  of  all,  and  they  concluded 
to  try  and  get  across  on  a  raft  of  green  willows,  and 
made  one  capable  of  holding  up  one  man  at  a  time. 

"  At  this  time  Dr.  Richardson,  prompted  by  a  desire 
of  relieving  his  suifeiing  companions,  ])roposed  to 
s\\am  across  the  stream  with  a  line,  and  to  liaul  the 
raft  over.  He  launched  into  the  stream  with  the  line 
round  his  middle,  hut  when  he  had  got  a  shoi-t  dis- 
tance from  the  bank,  his  anus  became  benumbed  with 
cold,  and  Ime  lost  the  power  of  moving  them ;  wtill  he 
j)er8evered,  and  turning  on  his  back,  had  nearly  gained 


FRANKLIN  8   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


209 


the  opposite  bank,  when  his  legs  also  became  power- 
less, and  to  our  infinite  alarm  we  beheld  him  sink. 
AVe  .instantly  hauled  upon  the  line  and  he  came  again 
ou  the  sui-face,  and  was  gradually  drawn  ashore  in  an 
almost  lifeless  state.  Being  rolled  up  in  blankets,  he 
was  placed  before  a  good  fire  of  willows,  and  fortu- 
nately was  just  able  to  speak  sufficiently  to  give  some 
slight  directions  respecting  the  manner  of  treating 
him.  lie  recovered  strength  gradually,  and  by  the 
blessing  of  God  was  enabled  in  the  course  of  a  few 
hours  to  converse,  and  by  the  evening  was  sufficiently 
recovered  to  remove  into  the  tent.  We  then  regretted 
to  learn,  that  the  skin  of  his  whole  left  side  was 
deprived  of  feeling  in  consequence  of  exposure  to  too 
great  heat.  He  did  not  peifectly  recover  the  sensa- 
tion of  that  side  until  the  following  summer." 

On  the  1st  of  October,  Back  and  the  interpreters 
returned,  having  been  unable  to  cross  the  water.  As 
the  tvillow  canoe  was  impracticable,  St.  Germain  pi'o- 
])()sed  to  build  one  of  some  painted  canvas,  and  men 
were  sent  off  to  collect  pitch  from  some  small  pines 
which  had  been  passed  on  the  journey. 

"  On  the  following  morning  the  ground  was  covered 
with  snow  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  and  a  half,  and  the 
weather  was  very  stormy.  These  circumstances  ren- 
dered the  men  again  extremely  despondent ;  a  settled 
gloom  hung  over  their  countenances,  and  they  lefusea 
to  pick  tripe  de  roche,  choosing  rather  to  go  entirely 
without  eating,  than  to  make  any  exertion.  The 
pai  ty  which  went  for  gum  returned  early  in  the  mov- 
ing without  having  found  any;  but  St.  Germain  said 
he  could  still  make  the  canoe  with  the  Avillows  cover- 
ed \\\i\\  the  canvas,  and  removed  with  Adam  to  a 
clump  of  willows  for  that  purpose.    Mr.  Back  accom- 


i  iTi'^ 


■  % 


<-      \ 


mi 


m 


i 


,  m\ 


mm 


il 


;;■  \i 


"  'il  5 


210 


BUILDING   A   OAKOE. 


panied  them  to  stimulate  his  exertion,  as  we  feared 
the  lowness  of  his  spirits  would  cause  him  to  be  slow 
in  his  operations.  Augustus  went  to  fish  ut  the  rapid, 
but  a  large  trout  having  carried  away  his  bait,  we  had 
nothing  to  replace  it. 

"  The  snow-storm  continued  all  the  night,  and  dur- 
ing the  forenoon  of  the  3d.  Having  persuaded  the 
people  to  gather  some  tripe  de  roche,l  partook  of  a 
meal  with  them ;  and  afterwards  set  out  with  the  in- 
tention of  going  to  St.  Germain  to  hasten  his  opera- 
tions, but  though  he  was  only  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant,  I  spent  three  hours  in  a  vain  attempt  to  reach 
him,  my  strength  being  unequal  to  the  labor  of  wad- 
ing through  the  deep  snow ;  and  I  returned  quite  ex- 
hausted, and  much  shaken  by  the  numerous  falls  I 
had  got.  My  associates  Avere  all  in  the  same  debilita- 
ted state,  and  poor  Hood  was  reduced  to  a  ])ei'fect 
shadow,  from  the  severe  bowel  complaints  which  the 
tn'pe  de  roche  never  failed  to  give  him.  Back  was  so 
feeble  as  to  require  the  support  of  a  stick  in  walking ; 
and  Dr.  Richardson  had  lameness  superadded  to  weak- 
ness. The  vc)ya2[ers  were  somewhat  stronrjer  than 
ourselves,  but  more  indisposed  to  exertion,  on  account' 
of  their  despondency.  The  sensation  of  hunger  was 
no  longer  felt  by  any  of  us,  yet  we  were  scarcely  able 
to  converse  upon  any  other  subject  than  the  ])leasures 
of  eating.  nepl)iirn,  on  the  contrary,  animated  by  a 
firm  r<'liaiuH>  on  the  beneficence  of  the  Snju-eine  Being, 
tenqjcred  with  resignation  to  his  will,  was  indefatiga- 
ble in  his  exertions  to  serve  us,  and  daily  collected  all 
the  tripe  de  roche  that  was  used  in  the  oificers'  mess. 

"  Oct.  4. — The  canoe  being  finished,  it  was  brought 
to  the  encanqimeiit,  and  the  whole  party  being  assem- 
bled in  anxious  expectation  on  the  beacli,  St.  Germain 


FRANKLIN  8   FIRST   LAND  EXPEDITION. 


2U 


embarked,  and  amidst  our  prayers  for  liis  success,  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  opposite  slior'e.  The  canoe 
was  then  di'awn  back  again,  and  another  pei"son  trans- 
ported, and  in  this  manner,  by  drawing  it  buckv/ards 
and  forwards,  tliey  were  all  conveyed  over  without 
any  serious  accident. 

"  That  no  time  might  be  lost  in  procuring  I'elief,  I 
immediately  despatched  IVIr.  Back  with  St.  Germain, 
Solomon  Beianger,  and  Beauparlant,  to  searcli  for  the 
Indians,  directing  him  to  go  to  Fort  Enterprise,  where 
we  expected  they  would  be,  or  wdiere,  at  least,  a  note 
°rom  Mr.  Wentzel  would  be  found  to  direct  us  in  our 
search  for  them.  If  St.  Germain  should  kill  any  ani- 
mals on  his  way,  a  portion  of  the  meat  was  to  be  put 
up  secure  y  for  us,  and  conspicuous  marks  placed  over 
it. 

"It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  gratifying 
change  than  was  produced  in  our  voyagers  after  we 
were  all  safely  landed  on  the  southej'u  banks  of  the 
river.  Their  spirits  immediately  r(5vived,  each  of  them 
shook  the  officers  cordially  by  the  liand,  and  declared 
they  now  considered  the  worst  of  their  difficulties 
over,  as  they  did  not  doubt  of  reaching  Fort  Enter- 
l)rise  in  a  few  days,  even  in  their  feebk^  condition. 

"Our  advance  from  the  depth  of  the  snow  was 
slow.  Mr.  Hood,  wlio  was  now  very  feeble,  and  Dr. 
Richardson,  wlio  attached  himself  to  him,  walked 
together  at  a  gentle  pace  in  tlie  rear  of  tlie  jiarty.  I 
kept  with  the  forenwst  men,  to  cause  them  to  halt 
occasionally,  until  the  stragglers  came  up.  A\^e  had  a 
Miiall  (luantity  of  this  irlpe  ih  roclm  in  the  evening, 
and  the  rest  of  our  supper  was  made  up  of  scraps  of 
roasted  leather." 

About  this  time  two  of  the  men,  Credit  and  Vail- 


P  M 


II!  . 


M      \i 


■m 


i!ll 


i. 


I 


^W 


Ij 


212 


SEPABATION  OF  THE   C05IPANY. 


m^'-i 


i 


I 


lil^ 


lant,  gave  out,  and  were  l-eported  to  be  a  mile  behind, 
in  the  snow.  Dr.  Richardson  went  back  and  found 
Vaillant  much  exhausted  with  cold  and  hunger,  but 
was  obliged  to  leave  him.  J.  B.  Belanger  then  went 
to  his  aid  and  brought  on  his  burden,  but  could  not 
arouse  him,  and  neither  he  nor  Vaillant  were  seen 
afterwards.  Junius,  too,  had  left  some  days  before  to 
hunt,  and  never  returned.  The  men  were  unable  to 
carry  their  loads  further,  and,  to  relieve  them  and  be 
in  condition  to  assist  any  who  might  give  out,  Mr. 
Hood  and  Dr.  Richardson  proposed  to  remain  behind. 

"  The  weather  was  mild  next  morning.  We  left  the 
encampment  at  nine,  and  a  little  before  noon  came  to 
a  pretty  extensive  thicket  of  small  willows,  near  Avhich 
there  appeared  a  supply  of  t?-ipe  ds  rocJie  on  the  face 
of  the  rocks.  At  this  place  Dr.  Richardson  and  Mr. 
Hood  determined  to  remain,  mth  John  Hei»burn,  who 
volunteer'ed  to  stop  with  them.  The  tent  was  securely 
pitched,  a  few  ^villow8  collected,  and  the  ammunition 
and  all  other  articles  were  deposited,  except  each 
man's  clothing,  one  tent,  a  sufficiency  of  ammunition 
for  the  Journey,  and  the  officer's  Journals.  I  had  only 
one  blanket,  which  was  carried  for  me,  and  two  pair 
of  shoes.  The  oft'er  was  now  made  for  any  of  the 
men,  who  felt  themselves  too  weak  to  proceed,  to  re- 
main with  the  officers,  but  none  of  them  accepted  it. 
Michel  alone  felt  some  inclination  to  do  so.  After 
we  had  united  in  thanksgiving  and  prayers  to  Almighty 
God,  I  separated  from  my  companions."  This  part- 
ing took  place  on  the  7th  of  October,  at  a  distance  of 
about  twenty-four  miles  from  Foii  Enteqirise. 

"Descending  afterwards  into  a  more  level  country, 
we  found  the  snow  very  deep,  and  the  labor  of  wad- 
ing through  it  so  fatigued  the  whole  party,  that  we 


ment. 


own  rei 
son's  en 
be  obtu 
the   lr()( 
er  hear( 
the  sui'\ 
was  an 
had  a  tc 
The 


franklin's   first  land  33XPEDinON. 


213 


were  compelled  to  encamp,  after  a  march  of  four 
miles  and  a  half.  Belanger  and  Michel  were  left  far 
behind,  and  when  they  aiiived  at  the  encampment 
appeared  rpiite  exhausted.  The  former,  bursting  into 
tears,  declared  his  inal)ility  to  proceed  with  the  jjarty, 
and  begged  me  to  let  him  go  back  next  morning  to 
the  tent,  and  shortly  afterwards  Michel  made  the 
same  reipiest.  Not  being  able  to  find  any  ^/y};<j  de 
roclie,  Ave  drank  an  infiision  of  the  Labrador  tea  j)lant, 
and  ate  a  few  morsels  of  burnt  leather  for  sujiper. 
ys^e  were  unable  to  raise  the  tent,  and  found  its  weight 
too  great  to  carry  it  on  ;  we,  therefore,  cut  it  up,  and 
took  a  part  of  the  canvas  for  a  cover.  The  night 
was  bitterly  cold,  and  though  we  lay  as  close  to  each 
other  as  possible,  liaving  no  shelter,  Ave  could  not  keep 
ourselves  sufficiently  wann  to  sleep.  A  strong  gale 
came  on  after  midnight,  which  increased  the  severity 
of  the  Aveather." 

In  the  morning  Belanger  and  IMichel  AA'ere  pemiit- 
ted  to  go  back,  and  Avere  left  sitting  in  the  encamp- 
ment. Soon  af  terAvard  tAvo  of  the  other  men  Perrault 
and  Fontano,  Avere  seized  Avith  dizziness  and  betrayed 
symptoms  of  extreme  debility ;  one  of  them,  bursting 
into  tears,  declared  his  inability  to  go  on,  and  the  other, 
the  next  day,  Avas  completely  exluinsted ;  each,  at  his 
own  recpiest,  was  pennitted  to  return  to  Dr.  liichard- 
son's  encampment,  Avhore  fire  and  r(>ck-tripe  Avere  to 
1)6  obtained.  Only  one  of  them,  however,  (Michel, 
the  Iroipiois,)  anived;  the  othev  three  Aveie  ne\'- 
er  heard  of ;  and  fortunate  indeed  would  it  have  been  if 
tlie  survivor  had  perished  Avith  tlie  rest.  Fontano 
Avas  an  Italian,  a  faithful  man,  for  Avhom  Franklin 
had  a  tender  regard. 

The  party,  noAV  reduced  to  five,  Augustus  having 


w 


''■     ■'  L 

';     i   lilt'' 


:..    ( 


f  :  i 


!      ft       .i      li: 


I 


\^\ 


214 


A  DESEBTBD   FOTST. 


! 


gone  ahead,  continued  tlie  journey  with  no  alleviation 
of  their  sufferings,  excepting  the  comfort  one  day  of 
a  large  fire — the  first  deserving  the  name  since  leaving 
the  coast.  Having  no  rock-tripe  they  drank  some  tea 
and  ate  some  of  their  shoes  for  supper. 

"At  length  we  leached  Fort  Enterpiise,  and  to  our  in- 
finite disappointment  found  it  a  perfectly  desolate  hab- 
itation. There  was  no  deposit  of  provision,  no  trace 
of  the  Indians,  no  letter  from  Mr.  Wentzel  to  point 
out  where  the  Indians  might  be  found.  It  would  be 
impossil>le  for  me  to  describe  our  sensations  after  en- 
tering this  miserable  abode,  and  discovering  how  we 
had  been  neglected ;  the  whole  party  shed  tears,  not 
so  much  for  our  own  fate,  as  for  that  of  our  fiiends  in 
the  rear,  whose  lives  depended  entirely  on  our  send- 
ing immediate  relief  from  this  place. 

"  I  found  a  note,  however,  from  Mr.  Back,  stating 
that  he  had  readied  the  house  two  days  ago,  and  was 
going  in  search  of  the  Indians,  at  a  place  where  St. 
Gemiain  deemed  it  probable  they  might  be  found.  If 
he  was  unsuccessful,  he  purposed  walking  to  Fort 
Providence,  and  sending  succor  from  thence. 

"  We  now  looked  round  for  the  means  of  subsistence, 
and  were  gratified  to  find  several  deer  skins,  which 
had  been  thrown  aAvay  during  our  former  i-esideiice. 
The  bones  were  gathered  from  the  heap  of  ashes ;  these 
with  the  skins,  and  the  addition  of  irijje  de  roclie,  we 
considered  would  support  us  tolerably  well  for  a  time. 
We  jn-ocured  fuel  by  pulling  up  the  flooring  of  the 
other  rooms,  and  Mater  for  the  purpose  of  cooking  by 
melting  the  snow.  A\liilst  we  were  seated  round  the 
fire  singeing  the  deer  skin  for  supj^r,  we  were  rejoiced 
by  the  unexpected  entrance  of  Augustiis.  He  had 
followed  quite  a  different  coui^se  from  oura. 


I  ill 


FEANKLIN  8  FIBST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


215 


"In  tlie  afternoon  of  tlie  14tli,  Belanger  arrived 
with  a  note  from  Mr.  Back,  stating  that  he  had  seen  no 
traces  of  the  Indians,  and  desiring  further  instructions 
as  to  the  course  he  shouhi  pursue.  Belanger's  situa- 
tion, however,  required  our  first  care,  as  he  came  in  al- 
most speechless,  and  covered  with  ice,  having  fallen 
into  a  rapid,  and  for  the  third  time  since  we  left  the 
coast,  narrowly  escaped  drowning."  Franklin  decided 
to  start  for  Fort  Providence,  and  sent  by  Belanger 
directions  to  Back  to  meet  him  at  Rainbow  Lake ;  but 
one  of  the  men,  Adam,  became  unable  to  travel,  and 
leavdng  Peltier  and  Samandre  behind  with  him,  the 
other  three  started  off  alone.  ' 

"  No  language  that  I  can  use  could  adequately  de- 
scribe the  parting  scene.  I  shall  only  say  there  was 
far  more  calmness  and  resignation  to  the  Divine  will 
evinced  by  every  one  than  could  have  been  expected. 
We  were  all  cheered  by  the  hope  that  the  Indians 
would  be  found  by  the  one  party,  and  relief  sent  to 
the  other.  Those  who  remained  entreated  us  to  make 
all  the  haste  we  could."  ' 

Franklin  was  unable  to  keep  up  with  his  compan- 
ions, and  leaving  them  to  go  on  alone,  returned  to  the 
limise,  "where  he  found  the  men  much  dispirited  and 
failin<x,  two  of  them  beins:  unable  to  leave  their  beds. 

"  We  perceived  our  strength  decline  every  day,  and 
every  exertion  began  to  be  irksome ;  when  we  Avere 
once  seated  the  greatest  effort  was  necessar}'-  in  order 
to  rise,  and  we  had  frequently  to  lift  each  other  from 
our  seats  ;  but  even  in  this  pitiable  condition  we  con- 
versed cheerfully,  being  sanguine  as  to  the  speedy  ar- 
rival of  tlie  Indians.  Having  expended  all  tlie  wood 
which  we  could   procure  from  our   present  dwelling, 

without  endangering  its  falling,  Peltier  began  this 

lo 


r. 


i!    It    V    ' 


.^  ! 


■Jjpi 


ii  »■*■»«■ 


.,..4  • 


I;        } 


<8     ''    -'• 


;  «v 


i 


216 


STARVATION   LIFE   AT   lOKT   ENTERPBISE. 


4ay  to  pull  down  the  partitions  of  tlie  adjoining 
houses. 

"  On  the  29th,  Peltier  felt  his  pains  more  severe  and 
could  only  cut  a  few  pieces  of  wood.  Samandre,  ^vho 
was  still  almost  as  weak,  relieved  him  a  little  time, 
and  I  assisted  them  in  canying  in  the  wood.  "We 
saw  a  herd  of  reindeer  sporting  on  the  river,  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  house ;  they  re^aained  there  a 
considerable  time,  but  none  of  the  party  felt  them- 
selves sufficiently  strong  to  go  after  thein,  nor  Avas 
there  one  of  us  who  could  have  fired  a  gun  Avithout 
resting  it. 

"  Whilst  we  were  seated  round  the  fire  this  evening, 
discoursing  about  the  anticipated  relief,  the  convei-sa- 
tion  was  suddenly  iuteirupted  by  Peltier's  exclaiming 
with  joy,  ^^Ah!  le  monde !  "  imagining  that  he  lieard 
the  Indians  in  the  other  room ;  immediately  after- 
wards, to  his  bitter  disapiwintment,  Dr.  Richardson 
and  Hepburn  entered,  each  carrying  his  bundle.  Pel- 
tier, however,  soon  recovered  himself  enough  to  express 
his  joy  at  their  safe  arrival,  and  his  regret  that  their 
companions  were  not  with  them.  When  I  saw  them 
alone  my  own  mind  was  instantly  filled  with  appre- 
hensions respecting  my  friend  Hood,  and  our  other 
com[)anions,  which  Avere  immediately  confirmed  by  the 
Doctor's  melancholy  communication,  that  Mr.  Hood, 
and  Michel  were  dead.  Perrault  and  Fontano  had 
neither  reached  the  tent  nor  been  heard  of  by  them. 

"  Hepburn  having  shot  a  partridge,  Avhicli  was 
brought  to  the  house,  the  Doctor  tore  out  the  feathers, 
an  I  having  held  it  to  the  fire  a  few  minutes,  divided  it 
into  seven  portions.  Each  piece  was  ravenoasly  de- 
voured by  my  companions,  as  it  was  the  firet  morsel 
of  flesh  any  of  us  had  tasted  for  thirty-one  days,  un- 


were  reac 


PBANKLIN  8    FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


217 


le8S  indeed  tlie  small  gristly  particles  which  vre  found 
occasionally  adhering  to  the  pounded  Lones  may  he 
termed  flesh.  Our  spirits  Avere  revived  hy  this  small 
supply,  and  the  Doctor  endeavored  to  raise  them  still 
higher  by  the  prospect  of  Ileplmrn's  being  able  to 
kill  a  deer  next  da)-,  as  tliey  had  seen,  and  even  fired 
at,  several  near  the  house.  Having  brought  his  pray- 
er-book and  Testament,  some  prayers  and  psalms,  and 
portions  of  scripture,  appropriate  to  our  situation, 
were  read,  and  we  retired  to  bed. 
•  "  Next  morning  the  Doctor  and  IIe2)burn  went  out 
early  in  search  of  deer ;  but,  though  they  sa-w  seve- 
ral herds  and  fired  some  shots,  they  were  not  so  for- 
tunate as  to  kill  any,  l^eing  too  weak  to  hold  their 
guns  steadily.  The  cold  compelled  the  former  to 
return  soon,  but  Hepburn  persisted  until  late  in  the 


evening. 


"  After  our  usual  supper  of  singed  skin  and  bone 
soup,  Dr.  Richardson  ac(iuainted  me  with  the  afflict- 
ing circumstances  attending  the  death  of  IMr.  Hood 
and  Michel  and  detailed  occurrences  subsequent  "which 
I  shall  give  from  his  joiu'ual  in  his  own  words." 


ir 


'  mm 


llllhv,|| 


,  'JaeJ^- .' 


ii 


I 


CHAPTER  XV. 

FRANKLIN'S  FIRST  LAND  EXPEDITION, 
(continued.) 

DR.  Richardson's  NARRAxrv^E. 

"  After  Captain  Franklin  liad  Indden  us  farewell, 
we  remained  seated  by  the  fireside  as  long  as  the 
willows,  the  men  had  cut  for  us  Ijefore  they  de])arted, 
lasted.  We  had  no  tripe  de  roclie  that  day,  but  drank 
an  infusion  of  the  country  tea-plant,  ^vhic]l  was  grate- 
ful fix)m  its  AS  armth,  although  it  afforded  no  suste- 
nance. AVe  then  retired  to  bed,  where  we  remained 
all  the  next  day,  as  the  weather  was  stormy,  and  tlie 
snow-drift  so  heavy,  as  to  destroy  every  jirospeot  of 
success  in  our  endeavors  to  light  a  fire  "with  the  green 
and  frozen  willows,  whicli  were  our  (MiIv  fuel.  Thn  )u<'li 
the  extreme  kindness  and  forethought  of  a  lady,  tlie 
party,  previous  to  le«ving  London,  had  been  furuislied 
with  a  small  collection  of  religious  books,  of  which  Ave 
still  retained  two  or  three  of  the  most  portable^,  and 
they  proved  of  incalculable  benefit  to  us.  AVe  I'ead 
portions  of  them  to  each  other  as  we  lay  in  bed,  in 
addition  to  the  morning  and  evening  sei'vice,  and  found 
that  they  inspired  us  on  each  perusal  Avith  so  strong  a 
sense  of  the  omnipresence  of  a  beneficent  (Jod,  that 
our  situation,  even  in  these  wilds,  appeared  no  longer 
destitute ;  and  we  conversed,  not  only  with  calmness, 

218 


II  .  II 


FRANKLIN  8    FIRST   LAJfD    EXPEDITION. 


219 


but  with  clieei'fulness,  detailing,  wiih  uiu-eHtrained 
confidence  tlie  past  events  of  our  lives,  and  dwelling 
Avitli  hope  on  onr  future  prospecta.  Had  my  poor 
friend  ])een  spared  to  revisit  hi.s  native  land,  I  should 
look  back  to  tliis  period  a\  ith  unalloyed  deliglit. 

"On  tlie  morninLT  of  October  Otli,  the  weather, 
alth()U^d^  still  cold,  "\vus  clear,  and  I  went  out  in  quest 
of  tript  (k  rochf',  leaving  Hepburn  to  cut  willows  for 
afire,  and  Mr.  IIooil  in  bed.  I  had  no  success,  as 
yesterday's  snow  drift  was  so  frozen  on  the  surface  of 
the  rocks  that  I  couhl  not  collect  a'  y  of  the  weed ; 
but,  (»n  my  return  to  the  tent,  I  found  that  Mi  hel, 
the  Iro(piois,  had  come  Avith  a  note  from  Mr.  Franklin. 
Michel  informed  us  that  he  quitted  Mr.  Frjinki.u's 
party  }'estei'(hiy  morning,  but,  that  ha\  iiig  missed  his 
way,  he  had  passed  the  night  on  the  snow  a  mile  or 
two  to  the  northward  of  us.  Belanger,  he  said,  being 
impatient,  had  left  tlu;  iire  about  two  houi-s'  earlier, 
and  as  he  had  not  arrived,  he  sui)posed  he  had  gone 
astray.  It  Avill  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  that  we  liad 
more  than  sufficient  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  this 
stor)^ 

"  Michel  now  produced  a  hare  and  a  partridge  Avhich 
lie  had  killed  in  the  morning.  This  unexpected  sup- 
ply of  provision  was  received  by  us  -with  a  deep  sense 
of  gratitude  to  the  Almighty  for  his  goodness,  and  we 
looked  upon  Michel  as  the  instrument  he  luid  chosen 
to  preserve  all  our  lives.  He  complained  of  cold,  and 
Mr.  Hood  oifered  to  share  his  buffalo  robe  with  liim 
at  night :  I  gave  him  one  of  two  shirts  Avhich  I  wore, 
whilst  Hei)burii,  in  the  warmth  of  his  lieart,  exclaimed, 
*lIow  I  shall  love  this  man  if  I  find  that  he  does  not 
tell  lies  like  the  others.'  Our  meals  being  finished, 
we  arranged  that  the  greatest  part  of  tlxe  things  should 


■4         I 
,1        ■ 


:!" 


'"nil 

■J'  -I' 


■'■  '] 


I.  I 


220 


DR.    RICnARDSON  8   NAURATm-!. 


i; 

^ 

I 
lit  I' 


m 


be  carried  to  the  pines  the  next  day ;  and  after  reading 
the  evening  service,  retired  to  h<>d  full  of  hope. 

"  Early  in  the  nioniing  Ilopburn,  Michel,  and  my. 
self,  carried  the  anuminition,  and  most  of  the  other 
heavy  articles  to  the  pines,  Michel  was  our  guide, 
and  it  did  not  occur  to  us  at  the  time  that  his  con- 
ducting us  pei-fectly  straight  Avas  incompatible  Avith 
his  story  of  having  gone  astray  on  his  way  to  us.  lie 
now  informed  us  that  he  had,  on  his  way  to  the  tent, 
left  on  the  hill  above  the  pines  a  gun  and  forty-eight 
balls,  which  Perrault  had  given  him  when  Avith  the 
rest  of  Mr.  Franklin's  party,  he  took  leave  of  him. 
It  will  be  seen,  on  a  reference  to  Mr.  Franklin's  jour- 
nal, that  Perrault  earned  his  gun  and  ammunition 
with  him  when  they  parted  from  l^Iichel  and  Belan- 
ger.  After  Ave  had  made  a  fire,  and  drank  a  little  of 
the  countiy  tea,  Hepburn  and  I  returned  to  the  tent, 
Avhere  Ave  arrived  in  the  evening,  much  exhausted  AAdth 
our  joiu'ney.  Michel  preferred  sleejiing  Avhere  he  Avas, 
and  requested  us  to  leaA^e  him  the  hatchet,  Avhich  Ave 
did,  after  he  had  promised  to  come  early  in  the  morn- 
ing to  assist  us  in  carrying  the  tent  and  bedding, 
Mr.  Hood  remained  in  bed  all  <lay,  Seelnix  nothiii" 
of  Belanger  to-day,  we  gaA'e  him  up  for  lost. 

"On  the  11th,  after  Avaiting  until  late  in  the  morn- 
ing for  Micliel,  Avho  did  not  come,  Hepburn  and  I 
loaded  ourselves  Avith  the  bedding,  and  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Hood,  set  out  for  the  pines.  Mr.  Hood  Avas 
much  affected  Avith  dimness  of  sight,  giddiness,  and 
other  symptoms  of  extreme  debility,  Avlilch  caused  us 
to  move  A'ery  s1oa\  and  to  make  frecpieiit  halts.  On 
arriving  at  the  pinesi;  we  Avere  much  alarmed  to  find 
that  Michel  was  absenb.  We  feared  that  he  had  lost 
his  way  in  coming  to  i  s  in  the  morning,  although  it 


1  I 


fhattklin's  FinsT  land  extedition'. 


221 


was  not  easy  to  conjecture  liow  that  could  have  Imp- 
pened,  as  our  footsteps  of  yesterday  were  very  cUstinct. 
IIei)buni  went  back  for  the  tent,  and  returned  with  it 
after  dusk,  completely  worn  out  "with  the  fatigue  of 
the  (lay.  Michel,  too,  arrived  at  the  Hai.,:e  time,  and 
relieved  our  anxiety  on  his  account.  lie  reported  that 
he  had  been  in  chase  of  some  deer  wliich  passed  near 
liis  ':leeping-i)lace  in  the  moniing,  and  although  he  did 
not  come  up  with  them,  yet  that  he  found  a  wolf 
which  had  been  killed  by  the  stroke  of  a  deer's  horn, 
and  had  brought  a  part  of  it.  We  implicitly  believed 
this  stoiy  then,  biit  afterwards  became  convinced  from 
circumstances,  the  detail  of  which  may  be  spared,  that 
it  must  have  been  a  portion  of  the  body  of  Belanger 
or  Pei'rault. 

"  A  question  of  moment  here  presents  itself ;  name- 
ly, whether  he  actually  murdered  these  men,  or  either 
of  them,  or  whether  he  found  the  bodies  on  the  snow. 
Coptain  Franklin  conjectures,  that  Michel  having 
already  destroyed  Belanger,  completed  his  crime  by 
Perrault's  death,  in  order  to  screen  himself  from  detec- 
tion. 

"  On  the  follov/ing  morning  the  tent  was  pitched, 
and  Michel  Avent  out  early,  refused  my  offer  to  accom- 
pany him,  and  remained  out  the  whole  day.  He 
would  not  sleep  in  the  tent  that  night,  but  chose  to 
lie  at  the  fireside. 

"On  the  13tli  there  was  a  heavy  gale  of  wind,  and 
we  passed  the  day  by  tlie  fire.  Next  day,  about  tAVO 
P.  M.,  the  gale  abating,  Michel  set  out  as  he  said  to 
hunt,  but  returned  unexpectedly  in  a  very  short  time. 
Tliis  conduct  surprised  us,  and  his  contradictory  and 
evasory  answers  to  our  (questions  excited  some  suspic- 
ions, but  they  did  not  turn  towards  the  truth. 


•!f 


MM^i 


222 


DU.    KICIIARD80N  B   NARRATIVE. 


I\. 


If  n 


Wi  \ 


M 


ilWi^ 


"  Octoher  15th, — In  tlie  course  of  tliis  day  Michel 
expressed  jniich  regret  that  he  had  staid  Leliiiid  Mr. 
Franklin's  party,  and  declared  that  he  would  set  out 
for  the  house  at  once  if  he  knew  the  way.  We  en- 
deavored to  soothe  him,  and  to  raise  his  hopes  of  the 
Indians  speedily  coming  to  our  relief,  but  without 
success. 

"  Next  day  he  refused  either  to  hunt  or  cut  wood, 
spoke  in  a  veiy  sui'ly  manner,  and  threatened  to  leave 
us.  Under  these  circumstances,  Mr.  Ilood  and  I  deem- 
ed it  better  to  promise  if  he  Avou'ld  hunt  diligently  for 
four  days,  that  then  we  would  give  Hepburn  a  letter 
foi'  Mr.  Franklin,  a  compass,  inform  him  what  course 
to  pursue,  and  let  them  proceed  together  to  the  fort. 

"  On  the  I7th  I  went  to  conduct  Michel  to  where 
Vaillant's  blanket  was  left,  and  after  Avalking  about 
three  miles,  pointed  out  the  hills  to  him  at  a  distance. 
He  proposed  to  remain  out  all  night,  and  to  hunt 
next  day  on  his  svay  back.  He  returned  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  18th,  having  found  the  blanket,  together 
with  a  bag  containing  two  jjistols,  and  some  other 
things  which  had  been  left  beside  it.  We  had  some 
tripe  da  rocJn^^  in  the  evening,  bv.t  Mr.  Hood,  from  the 
constant  griping  it  produced,  w;is  unable  to  eat  more 
than  one  oi'  two  spoonfuls.  He  was  now  so  weak  as 
to  be  scarcely  able  to  sit  uj*  at  the  fireside,  and  com- 
plained that  the  least  breeze  of  Avind  seemed  to  blow 
through  his  frame.  He  also  sufiered  much  from  cold 
during  the  night, 

"  On  the  10th  Michel  refused  to  hunt,  or  even  to  as- 
sist in  cai'rying  a  log  of  ^vood  to  the  fire,  which  was 
too  heavy  for  Hepburn's  strength  and  mine,  Mr. 
Hood  endeavored  to  point  out  to  him  the  necessity 
and  duty  of  exei*tn?'i,  and  the  cmelty  of  his  quitting 


FRANKLINS   TyiRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


223 


us  without  leaving  ao^oething  for  our  support ;  but  tlie 
discourse,  far  from  }•,  educing  any  bt^nelicial  effect, 
seemed  only  to  excite  his  anger,  and  amongst  other  ex- 
pressions he  made  use  of  the  following  remai'kable  one  : 
"  It  is  no  use  hunting,  there  are  no  animals,  you  had 
better  kill  and  eat  me." 

"  October  20.  —  In  the  morning  w^e  again  mged 
Michel  to  go  a  hunting,  that  he  might  if  jxjssjble  1*  uve 
us  some  provision,  to-moiTow  being  the  da}'  a]>pointed 
for  his  (quitting  us  ;  but  he  showed  great  unwilling- 
ness to  go  out,  and  lingered  about  the  ti'e,  under  the 
pretense  of  cleaning  his  gun.  After  we  had  r*^ad  the 
morning  service,  I  went  about  noon  to  gather  some 
tri^e  de  roelie,  leaving  Mr.  Hood  sitting  before  the  tent 
at  the  fireside,  arguing  Avith  MicheJ ;  IIep}>uru  wiis 
emplo}'ed  cutting  down  a  tree  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  tent,  being  desirous  of  accumulating  a  (juan- 
tity  of  fire- wood  before  he  left  us.  A  short  time  after 
I  went  out,  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  about  ten 
miuutes  afterwards  Hepburn  called  to  me  in  a  voice 
of  great  alami,  to  come  directly.  When  I  arrived,  I 
found  ptH)r  Hood  lying  lifeless  at  the  fireside,  a  ball 
having  a})parently  entered  his  forehead.  I  was  at  first 
horror-struck  Avith  the  idea,  that  in  a  fit  of  despond- 
ency he  had  hurried  himself  into  the  jiresence  of  his 
iiluiighty  Judge,  by  an  act  of  his  own  hand ;  but  the 
conduct  of  Michel  soon  gave  rise  to  other  tlioughts, 
and  excited  suspicions  which  were  confhined  when 
upon  examining  the  body,  I  discovered  that  tlie  shot 
lud  entered  the  back  part  of  the  head,  and  i>assed 
out  at  the  forehead,  and  that  the  nuiz/.le  of  tlie  gun 
lu-ul  been  applied  so  close  as  to  set  fire  to  the  night- 
cap beliind.  The  gun,  which  was  of  the  longest  kind 
supplied  to  the  Indians,  could  not  ha\e  been  pliK-eJ 


ti 


;Bi:i 


224 


DR,  RICHARDSON  S   NARRATIVE. 


m 


in  a  position  to  inflict  such  a  wound,  except  by  a  sec- 
ond person. 

"  Upon  inquiring  of  Michel  how  it  happened,  he 
replied,  that  jMr.  Hood  had  sent  him  into  the  tent  for 
a  short  gun,  and  that  during  his  absence  the  long  gun 
had  gone  off,  ho  did  not  know  Avhether  by  accident 
or  not.  He  held  the  short  gun  in  his  hand  at  the 
time  he  was  speaking  to  me.  Hepbur->  ;  fterwarda 
informed  me,  that  previous  to  the  report  c'^  he  gun, 
Mr  Hood  and  Michel  %vere  speaking  to  each  other  in 
an  ek^vated,  angiy  tone ;  that  Mr.  Hood  being  seated 
at  the  fireside,  was  hid  from  him  by  intervening  wil- 
lows, but  that  on  hearing  the  report  he  looked  up,  and 
saw  Michel  rising  up  fi-om  before  the  tent  door,  or 
Just  behind  Avhere  Mr.  Hood  was  seated,  and  then  go- 
ing into  tlie  tent.  Thinking  that  the  gun  had  been 
discli urged  for  the  purpose  of  cleaning  it,  he  did  not 
go  to  the  fire  at  first ;  and  when  Michel  called  to  him 
that  Mr.  Hood  was  dead,  a  considerable  time  had 
elapsed.  Although  I  dared  not  openly  to  evince  any 
suspicion  that  I  thought  Michel  guilty  of  the  deed, 
yet  he  repeatedly  protested  that  he  was  incapable  of 
committing  such  an  act,  kept  constantly  on  his  guard, 
and  carefully  avoided  leaving  Hepbiu'n  and  me  to- 
gether. He  was  evidently  afraid  of  permitting  us  to 
converse  in  private,  and  Avhenever  He])burn  s])oke,  he 
inquired  if  he  accused  him  of  the  murder. 

"  We  removed  the  body  into  a  clump  of  willows 
behind  the  tent,  and,  retui-ning  to  the  fire,  read  the 
funeral  service  in  addition  to  the  evening  prayers. 
The  loss  of  a  young  oflficer,  of  such  distinguislied  and 
varied  talents  and  application,  may  be  felt  and  duly 
appreciated  by  the  eminent  cliaracters  under  ^^■llose 
command  he  had  served ;  but  the  calmness  with  which 


nw 


FRANKLIN  8   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


225 


lie  contemplated  the  probable  tennination  of  a  life  of 
uncommon  jiromise ;  and  the  patience  and  fortitude 
with  -svliich  he  sustained,  I  may  venture  to  say,  unpar- 
alleled bodily  sufferings,  con  only  be  knoAvn  to  the 
companions  of  his  distresses.  Jjioherstetlt^s  ScrijAiire 
Help  was  lying  open  beside  the  body,  as  if  it  had  fall- 
en from  liis  hand^  and  it  is  probal»le  that  he  Avas  read- 
ing it  at  the  instant  of  his  death. 

"  We  passed  the  night  in  the  tent  together  without 
rest,  every  one  being  on  liis  guard. 

"  Next  day,  having  determined  on  going  to  the  Fort, 
we  began  to  jiatch  and  prepare  our  clothes  for  the 
journey.  We  singed  the  hair  oft'  a  part  of  the  buffalo 
robe  that  belonged  to  Mr.  Hood,  and  boiled  and  ate 
it.  ]\Iichel  tried  to  persuade  me  to  go  to  the  woods 
on  th(i  Coppermine  River,  and  Inint  for  deer,  instead 
of  going  to  the  Fort.  In  the  afternoon  a  flock  of  par- 
tridges coming  near  the  tent,  he  killed  several,  which' 
he  s^liared  with  us. 

"  Thick  snowy  weather  and  a  head  wind  prevented 
us  from  starting  the  following  day,  but  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  2.'{d  -we  set  out,  carrying  with  us  the  re- 
mainder of  the  singed  robe.  Hepburn  and  Michel 
had  each  a  gun,  and  I  earned  a  small  pistol,  which 
Hepburn  had  loaded  for  me.  In  the  course  of  the 
march,  IMichel  alarmed  us  nuich  by  his  gestures  and 
conduct,  was  constantly  muttering  to  himself,  express- 
ed an  unwillingness  to  go  to  the  Fort,  and  tried  to 
persuade  m<'  to  go  to  llie  south wai'd  to  the  woods, 
where  ln'  said  he  could  midntain  himself  all  the  winter 
hy  killing  deer.  In  consequence  of  this  behavior,  and 
the  expression  of  his  eoiinteiumce,  I  ''equested  him  to 
leave  us  and  to  go  to  the  southward  by  himself.  This 
proposal  increased  his  ill-nature,  he  threw  out  some 


!'■! 


n% 


i:l 


\   'i 


I'i 


im\v 


226 


DE.    EICnARDSON  8   NARRATIVE. 


obscure  hints  of  freeing  himself  from  all  restraint  on 
the  morrow ;  and  I  overheard  him  muttering  threats 
against  Hepburn,  Avhom  he  openly  accused  of  having 
told  stories  against  him.  He  also  for  the  first  time, 
assumed  such  a  tone  of  superiority  in  addressing  me,  as 
evinced  that  he  considered  us  to  be  completely  in  his 
power,  and  he  gave  vent  to  several  expressions  of 
liatred  to-wards  the  white  people,  or  as  he  termed  us 
in  the  idiom  of  the  voyagers,  the  French,  some  of 
whom,  he  said,  had  killed  and  eaten  his  uncle  and  two 
of  his  relations. 

"  In  short,  tahing  eveiy  circumstance  of  his  conduct 
into  consideration,  I  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  lie 
would  attempt  to  destroy  us  on  the  first  opportunity 
that  offered,  and  that  he  had  hitherto  abstained  from 
doing  so  from  his  ignorance  of  the  way  to  the  Fort, 
but  that  he  ^vould  never  suffer  us  to  go  thither  in 
'c  mpany  with  him.  Hepburn  snd  1  were  not  in  a 
condition  to  resist  even  an  open  attack,  nor  could  we 
by  any  device  escajve  from  him.  Our  imited  strength 
was  far  inferior  to  his,  and,  beside  his  gun,  he  was 
armed  with  two  pistols,  an  Indian  bayonet,  and  a  knife. 
In  the  afternoon,  coming  to  a  rock  on  Avliich  there 
was  some  tr/pc-  de  rochc,  he  halted,  and  said  he  would 
gather  it  whiliL^t  we  went  on,  and  that  he  would  sooll 
overtake  us. 

"Hepburn  and  I  Avere  now  left  together  for  the 
first  time  since  j\[r.  Hood's  death,  and  he  ac(piainted 
me  witli  several  inatorial  circumstan(;es  Av]ii<'h  1  e  had 
observed  of  ^Michers  beliavior,  and  wliioli  connrmed 
me  in  the  o])ini()n  that  there  was  no  safety  for  us  ex- 
cept in  his  death,  and  lie  offereil  to  be  the  instrument 
of  it.  I  determined,  however,  us  I  was  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  such  a  dreadful  act,  to 


FRANKLIN  8   FIRST   LAND   EXPEDITION. 


227 


take  the  whole  responsibility  upon  myself ;  and  imme- 
diately iipor  Michel's  coming  uji,  I  jnit  an  end  to  his 
life  by  shooting  him  through  the  head  -with  a  pistol. 
Had  my  own  life  alone  been  threatened,  I  would  not 
have  purchased  it  by  such  a  measure ;  but  I  considered 
myself  as  intrusted  also  with  the  protection  of  Hep- 
burn's, a  man,  who,  by  his  humane  attentions  and  de- 
votedness,  had  so  endeared  himself  to  me,  that  I  felt 
more  anxiety  for  his  safety  than  for  my  oAvn.  Michel 
had  gathered  no  tripe  de  rochcj  and  it  was  evident  to 
us  that  he  had  halted  for  the  purpose  of  putting  his 
gun  in  order,  with  the  intention  of  attacking  us,  per- 
haps, whilst  we  "were  in  the  act  of  encamping. 

"  I  have  dwelt  in  the  preceding  part  of  the  narrative 
upon  many  circumstances  of  Michel's  conduct,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  aggravating  his  crime,  but  to  put  the 
reader  in  possession  of  the  reasons  that  influenced  me 
in  depriving  a  fellow  creature  of  life.  Up  to  the 
period  of  his  return  to  the  tent,  his  conduct  had  been 
good  and  respectful  to  the  officers,  and  in  a  conversa- 
tion between  Captain  Franklin,  ^Ir,  Hood,  and  myself, 
at  Obstruction  Kapid,  it  had  been  proposed  to  give 
liim  a  reAvai'd  upon  our  arrival  at  a  ]>ost.  His  princi- 
ples, however,  unsupported  by  a  belief  in  the  divine 
truths  of  Christianity,  were  luiable  to  withstand  the 
pressure  of  severe  distress.  His  countrymen,  the  Iro- 
quois, are  generally  Christians,  but  he  -was  totally  un- 
instnicted  and  ignorant  of  the  duties  inculcated  by 
Christianity ;  and  from  his  long  residence  in  the  Indian 
countiy,  seems  to  have  imbibed,  or  retained,  the  rules 
of  conduct  which  the  southern  Indians  prescribe  to 
tliemsclvcs 

"  On  the  t\vo  following  days  we  liad  mild  but  thick 
snowy  weather,  and  as  the  view  Avas  too  limited  ("o 


N    i 


It 


•'^  p. 


1^^ 


DR.    RICHARDSON  B   NARRATIVE. 


enable  us  to  j)i'e3erve  a  straight  coui'se,  we  remained 
encamped  amongst  a  few  willows  and  dwai-f  pines, 
about  five  miles  from  tlie  tent.  On  tlie  2Gth,  the 
weather  being  clear  and  extremely  cold,  we  resumed 
our  march,  ^vhich  was  very  painful  from  the  de2)th  of 
the  snow,  jiarticularly  on  the  margins  of  the  small 
lakes  that  lay  in  our  route.  We  frequently  sunk 
under  the  load  of  our  blankets,  and  were  obliged  to 
assist  each  other  in  getting  up. 

"We  came  in  sii^-ht  of  the  fort  at  dusk  on  the  29th, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  describe  our  sensations,  when 
on  attaining  the  eminence  that  overlooks  it,  we  be. 
held  the  smoke  issuing  from  one  of  the  chimneys. 
From  not  having  met  with  any  footsteps  in  the  snow, 
as  we  drew  nigh  our  once  cheerful  residence,  we  had 
been  agitated  by  many  melancholy  forebodings. 
Upon  entering  the  now  desolate  building,  ^ve  had  the 
satisfaction  of  embracing  Captain  Fraulclin,  but  no 
words  can  con^•e}'  an  idea  of  the  filth  and  Avretched- 
ness  that  met  our  eyes  on  looking  around.  Our  own 
misery  had  stolen  iipon  us  by  degrees,  and  we  were 
accustomed  to  the  contemplation  of  each  othei-'s  ema- 
ciated figures,  but  the  ghastly  countenances,  dilated 
eye-balls,  and  sepulchral  voices  of  Mr.  Franklin  and 
those  with  him,  -svere  more  than  we  could  at  firat 
bear." 


The  morning  of  October  31st  was  very  cold,  and 
matters  did  not  improve  at  Foi-t  Enterprise.  At- 
tempts to  kill  deer  and  partiidges  were  unsuccessful, 
and  Peltier  and  Samandre  grew  weaker ;  within  two 
da)s  lK)th  Avere  dead. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  the  report  of  a  nuisket 
was  heard,  and  three  Indians  were  seen  close  to  the 


til    f 


m^?TTf 


FKANKUN's   FIUST   land   liXI'EMTION. 


229 


house.  Kelief  had  arrived  at  last ;  Adams  was  in  so 
weak  a  state  tliat  lie  coidd  hardly  comprehend  it,  but 
on  taking  food  he  rapidly  improved. 

"  The  Indians  had  left  Akaitcho's  encampment  on  the 
5th  of  November,  having  been  sent  by  Mr.  Back  A\ith  all 
possible  expedition,  after  he  had  arrived  at  their  tents. 
They  brought  but  a  small  supply  of  piovisions,  that 
they  might  travel  quickly.  Boudel-kell,  the  youngest 
of  the  Indians,  after  resting  about  an  hour,  returned 
to  Akaitcho  with  the  intelligence  of  our  situation. 
The  two  others,  "  Crooked  Foot  and  the  Eat,"  remain- 
ed to  take  care  of  us.  They  set  about  everything 
with  an  activity  that  amazed  us." 

On  the  13th,  the  Indians  became  despondent  at  the 
non-arrival  of  supplies,  and  in  the  evening  went  off 
after  giving  each  of  the  white  men  a  handful  of  pound- 
ed meat.  On  the  15th,  Crooked  Foot  and  two  other 
Indians  appeared,  with  two  Indian  women  dragging 
provisions. 

On  the  IGth  of  November  the  travelers  started  to- 
wards Fort  Providence,  es^corted  by  the  Indians,  Avho 
treated  their  charge  with  the  greatest  tenderness,  jire- 
paiing  their  encampment  and  cooking  for  them.  On 
the  2r)th  they  arrived  safely  at  the  abode  of  Akaitcho, 
and  were  received  by  the  Indians  in  his  tent  with 
looks  of  compassion  and  profound  silence  of  fifteen 
inhuites  duration,  whereby  they  meant  to  exjjress  their 
condolence.  Nothing  was  said  until  after  the  ^\  hite 
men  had  tasted  food. 

On  (he  8th  of  December,  Franklin  and  Ilichardson 
took  leave  of  Akaitcho  and  started  south,  conducted 
by  Belanger  and  a  Canadian  who  had  been  sent  for 
tlieni  \\ith  sledges  drawn  by  dogs.  The}  arrived  at 
Fort  Providence  on  the  11th,  and  were  there  visited 


;i:ii 


il^^^ 


J 


il\j% 


m 


ARRIVAL  AT  FORT  TORK. 


by  Akaitcho  and  his  band,  with  Adam,  who  had  united 
with  them.  In  the  course  of  conversation  Akaitcho 
said  to  Franklin,  "  I  know  you  Avrite  down  eveiy  oc- 
currence in  your  books ;  but  probably  you  have  only 
noticed  the  bad  things  we  have  said  and  done,  and 
omitted  to  mention  the  good." 

Stai'ting  southward  again,  the  pai'ty  reached  Moose- 
Deer  Island  on  the  17th,  where  they  found  Mr.  Back, 
who  gave  an  affecting  detail  of  the  proceedings  of  his 
party  since  the  separation.  His  nan-ative  is  but  a 
continuation  of  the  same  kind  of  suffering  by  famine 
and  cold.  For  days  they  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  one 
of  his  men,  Beauparlant,  died  on  the  way. 

On  the  2Gth  of  May,  after  a  five  months'  residence  at 
Moose-Deer  Island,  the  party  started  for  Fort  Chipew- 
yan,  where  they  met  Mr.  Wentzel ;  liis  excuse  for  fail- 
ing to  keep  a  supply  of  provisions  at  Fort  Enterprise 
was  that  he  could  not  control  the  Indians. 

Franklin,  Richardson,  and  Augustus  arrived  at  Fort 
York  on  the  14th  of  July  1822.  And  thus  termina- 
ted their  long,  fatiguing,  and  disastrous  travels  in 
North  America,  having  Journeyed  by  water  and  by 
land  (including  their  navigation  of  the  Polar  Sea,) 
five  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 


■n 


Tr — ^'f)W^ 


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li 

I; 
if 

ii 


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i 

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( 
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irj 

Li 


:|,i|fe     til'        |!     :'l 


FRANK! 

In  July 
included  li 
Back,  arri^ 
dition  to 
time  the  V 
Great  Bea 
on  the  we 
which  the 
ing  summ< 

On  the 
"Lion"fc 
Back  Avit] 
place  calh 
of  Hare  I 
dresses,  hi 
quills,  bot 
meat.  Ai 
tahlishmei 
pany,  i-ece 
thein  at  n: 
Indiana 
whom  the 

Contini 
posed  to  1 


CHAPTER   XVI. 
FRANKLIN'S  SECOND  LAND  EXPEDITION. 

In  July  1825,  Captain  Franklin  and  his  party,  which 
included  his  old  companions  Messrs.  Richardson  and 
Back,  arrived  at  Fort  Chipe\\^an  on  his  second  expe- 
dition to  the  northern  shores  of  America.  In  due 
time  the  whole  party  assembled  on  the  banks  of  the 
Great  Bear  Lake  River,  which  flows  out  of  that  lake 
on  the  -western  side  into  the  Mackenzie  River,  down 
which  they  were  to  descend  to  the  sea  in  the  follow- 
ing summer. 

On  the  8th  of  A.ugiist,  Franklin  embarked  in  the 
"Lion  "for  a  preliminary  trip  down  the  Mackenzie. 
Back  with  three  canoes  accompanied  him.  Near  a 
place  called  the  "  Ramparts  "  they  fell  in  with  a  party 
of  Ilare  Indians  all  neatly  clothed  in  new  leathern 
dresses,  highly  ornamented  with  beads  and  porcupine 
quills,  both  sexes  alike,  who  brought  fish,  berries  and 
ineal.  At  Fort  Good  Hope,  the  lowest  of  the  fur  es- 
ta]>lishments,  Charles  Dease,  chief  trader  of  the  com- 
pany, received  the  travelers  and  prepai-ed  a  meal  for 
tliein  at  midnight.  This  fort  was  situated  among  the 
Indiana  Avhom  Mackenzie  called  Quarrelers,  but 
whom  the  traders  named  Loucheux  or  Squinters. 

Continuing  on,  the  party  came  to  what  they  sup- 
posed to  be  the  Arctic  Sea,  and  on  Garry  Island  a  tent 
14  231 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  MS80 

(716)  872-4503 


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232 


FOUT   FKANKLIN. 


was  pitched,  and  the  flag  Avhich  Franklin's  deeply 
lamented  wife  had  gi\  ;'n  him  on  j)ai-ting,  to  be  iinfniled 
only  in  view  of  this  sea,  was  hoisteil. 

Dnring  Franklin's  a1)sence  on  this  trip  snitahle 
buildings  were  erected  and  named  Fort  Fianklin,  and 
here  the  adventurei-s  remained  through  tlie  winter, 
which  though  severe  was  pjissed  in  comj)arative  com- 
fort. The  last  swan  flew  to  the  south  on  the  Hth  of 
October,  and  the  fii-st  one  re-a]»i)eared  <m  the  fJth  of 
May.  ]Mos(|nitoes  arrived  on  the  24th  of  May,  and 
the  first  flower  was  gathered  on  the  27th. 

The  boats  were  launched  on  the  15th  of  June,  and 
the  men  ajipointed  to  their  respective  stations  and 
furnished  with  blue  water-proof  uniforms  and  ft-athers. 
Tlie  day  was  closed  by  drinking  a  small  quantity  of 
rum  reserved  for  the  occasion,  followed  by  a  meiiy 
dance  in  which  all  joinetl. 

The  adventurers  left  Fort  Franklin  on  the  21st  of 
June,  leaving  behind  in  charge  (»f  the  fort  only  an  old 
fisherman,  who  would  not  let  them  depart  without 
giving  his  hearty  though  solitary  cheer,  which 
was  retunied  in  full  chorus.  Early  in  July  they 
reached  a  broad  part  of  the  river  where  different 
channels  brand;  oflF,  and  here  the  party  divided. 
Franklin  and  liack  in  the  Lion  and  Reliance  took  th« 
western  channel  and  Kicluu'daun  with  two  other 
boats  took  the  easterly  one. 

On  tiic  7th  of  July  Franklin's  pcHy  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  and  discovered  on  an  ishmd  a  mid- 
titude  of  tents  and  many  Esipiimaux.  Articles 
for  presents  and  tr.'ide  having  been  sehieted,  the  boats 
sailed  toward  the  tents  with  the  ensigns  flying,  but 
touched  ground  when  about  a  mih;  from  (he  beach. 
Three  kayaks  instantly  put  off  fiom  the  shore  and 
othejfl  i^uickly   followed,  so  that  the  whole   space 


Svemg 
Ins  own 
hut  sooi 
ing  abo 
other  a 
from  th 
careful  1_ 
everyth 
on  our 
as  A\e 
others 
the  Lioil 
to  get 
attempt! 
Meanf 
ouly  kul 


AT  THE  UOUTU  OF  TUB  MACKENZIE. 


233 


between  the  island  and  the  Loats  was  covered  with 
them.  The  leading  kayaks  where  paddled  by  elderly 
men,  Avhora  Augustus  invited  to  approach  and  receive 
a  present,  telling  them  that  if  a  channel  for  ships 
were  found  they  would  come  and  open  a  trade.  On 
hearing  which  they  shouted  for  joy. 

A  trade  was  now  commente<l  and  three  hundred 
natives  crowded  around  the  boats,  anxious  to  sell 
their  bows,  arrows,  and  spears,  and  altliough  their 
injportunities  were  troublesome,  they  showed  no 
unfriendly  disposition  until  an  accident  occurred 
which  was  productive  of  annoying  consequences. 

"A  kayak  being  overset  by  one  of  the  Lion's  oars, 
its  owner  was  plunged  into  the  water  Avith  his  head 
in  the  uukI,  and  apj)arently  in  danger  of  being  drowned. 
AVe  instantly  extricated  him  from  his  unj)leasant  situ- 
ation, and  took  him  into  the  boat  until  the  water 
could  be  thrown  out  of  his  kayak ;  and  Augustus, 
HvPing  him  shivering  with  cold,  wrapped  him  up  in 
his  own  great-coat.  At  first  he  was  exceedingly  angiy, 
hut  soon  became  reconciled  to  his  situation  ;  and,  look- 
ing about,  discovered  that  we  had  many  bales  and 
other  articles  in  the  hont,  which  hful  been  concealed 
from  the  ])eople  in  the  kayaks,  by  the  coverings  being 
carefully  sjiread  over  all.  He  soon  began  to  ask  for 
everything  he  saw,  and  exi)ressed  much  displeasure 
on  our  refusing  k)  comjdy  with  his  demands;  he  also, 
as  we  afterwards  learned,  excite<l  the  cupidity  ot 
others  by  his  account  of  the  inexhaustible  riches  in 
the  Lion,  and  several  of  the  younger  men  endeavored 
to  get  into  both  our  boats,  but  we  resisted  all  their 
attempts." 

Meantime  the  water  having  ebbed  so  that  it  was 
only  knee  deep  where  the  boats  lay,  the  natives  seized 


r'   !| 


234 


THE  EXPEDITION   IN  TROUBLE. 


hi 
i. ' 


the  Reliance  and  dragged  it  to  the  beach.  Franklin, 
who  was  in  the  Lion,  says : — 

"Two  of  tlie  most  powerful  men,  jumping  on  board 
at  the  same  time,  seized  me  by  the  wrists  and  forced 
me  to  sit  between  them  ;  and  as  I  shook  them  hwse 
two  or  three  times,  a  third  P2squiniaux  took  his  station 
in  front  to  catch  my  arm  whenever  I  attempted  to  lift 
my  gun,  or  the  broad  dagger  which  hung  1»y  my  side. 
The  whole  way  to  the  shore  they  kept  repeating  the 
word  '  teymay  beating  gently  on  my  left  breast  with 
their  hands,  and  i)ressing  mine  against  heir  breasts. 
As  we  neared  the  beach,  two  oomiaks  full  of  women 
arrived,  and  the  'tet/vias''  and  vociferation  were  re- 
doubled. The  Reliance  was  fli-st  brought  to  the  shore, 
and  the  Lion  close  to  her  a  few  seconds  afterward. 
The  three  men  who  held  me  now  leaped  ashore,  and 
those  who  had  remained  in  their  canoes,  taking  them 
out  of  the  water,  carried  them  to  a  litthf  distance.  A 
numerous  party  then  drawing  their  knives,  and  strip 
ping  themselves  to  -he  waist,  ran  to  the  Reliance,  and, 
having  first  hauled  her  as  far  up  as  they  could,  lugan 
a  regular  pillage,  Iianding  the  articles  to  the  women, 
who,  ranged  in  a  row  behind,  quickly  conveyed  them 
out  of  sight." 

In  short,  after  a  furious  contest  for  possession  of  the 
goods,  during  which  knives  were  brandished  in  a  most 
threatening  manner,  several  of  the 'men's  clothes  cut 
through,  and  the  buttons  of  othei-s  torn  from  their 
coats,  Lieutenant  Back  onlered  his  men  to  seize  and 
level  their  nuiskets,  but  not  to  fire  till  the  word  was 
given.  This  had  the  desired  effect,  the  whole  crowd 
taking  to  their  heels  and  hiding  themselves  behind  the 
drift-timber  on  the  beach.  Franklin  still  thought  it 
best  to  temporize   so  long  as  the  boats  were  lying 


A   BRAVE   IirrEItPBETEB. 


235 


I 


aground,  and  states  Lis  conviction,  "considering  the 
state  of  excitement  to  wliiili  tliey  hiul  worked  them- 
selves,  tliat  the  firat  blooJ  which  his  jmrty  might  un- 
fortunately have  shed  would  instantly  have  been  re 
venged  by  the  .sacriiice  of  all  their  lives." 

The  boats  floated  soon  afterwaitls,  ard  as  they  were 
leaving,  some  of  the  natives  walked  /  long  the  beach 
and  invited  Augustus  to  a  conference  on  shore.  "  I 
was  unwilling  to  let  him  go,"  says  Franklin,  "  but 
the  brave  little  fellow  entreated  so  eai'nestly  that  I 
would  suffer  him  to  land  and  ri'j)r()ve  the  Escjuimaux 
for  their  conduct,  that  I  at  length  consented."  On 
his  retum,  being  desired  to  tell  what  he  said  to  them, 
"  he  had  told  them,"  he  said, 

"  Your  conduct  has  been  very  bad,  and  unlike  that 
of  all  other  Escniimaux.  Some  of  you  even  stole  from 
mo,  your  countryman  ;  but  that  I  do  not  mind  ;  I  only 
regret  that  you  slu)uld  have  treated  in  this  violent 
manner  the  white  peojde,  who  came  solely  to  do  you 
a  kindness.  My  tribe  were  in  the  same  unhappy 
state  in  which  you  now  are  before  the  white  people 
came  to  Churchill,  but  at  i)reHent  they  arc  supplied 
with  everything  they  need,  and  you  see  that  I  am 
w«'ll  clothed;  I  get  all  that  I  want,  and  am  very  com- 
fortable. You  cannot  expect,  after  the  transactions 
of  this  day,  that  these  iieojjle  will  ever  bring  go«)ds  to 
your  country  again,  unless  you  show  your  contrition 
by  restoring  the  stolen  goods.  The  white  ])e()ple 
love  the  Esipiimaux,  and  wish  tt)  show  tliein  the  same 
kindness  that  they  bestow  uiK)n  the  Indians,  Do  not 
deceive  youixelves,  an<l  su]>])ose  they  are  afraid  of  you; 
I  tell  yoti  they  are  not;  and  that  it  is  entirely  owing  to 
their  humanity  that  many  of  you  were  not  killed 
today  ;  fur  they  have  all  guns,  with  which  they  can 


I    I 


I 


V     ^ 


236 


SECOND   WINTEB  AT  FORT  FRANKUUf. 


destroy  you  either  when  near  or  at  a  distance.  I 
also  have  a  gun,  and  can  assure  you  tliat  if  a  white 
man  had  fallen  I  would  have  been  the  fii-st  to  have 
revenged  his  death." 

In  rejUy,  the  natives  said  that  having  never  seen 
white  men  before  they  could  not  resist  the  temptation 
of  stealing  their  pretty  things  ;  they  pronised  never 
to  do  the  like  again,  and  gave  a  proof  of  their  sin- 
cerity by  restoring  the  articles  that  had  been  stolen; 
and  thus,  in  an  amicable  manner,  Avas  the  affray  con- 
cluded. 

On  the  13th  of  July,  Franklin  started  to  examine 
the  sea  coast  westerly  of  the  Mackenzie  River,  and 
discovered  on  the  27th,  the  mouth  of  another  large 
river  which  he  named  the  Clarence.  The  extreme 
westerly  point  reached  by  the  party  was  called  lletura 
Reef,  near  longtitutle  149''.  Fnmi  this  place  they 
started  to  return  on  the  18th  of  August.  At  this 
same  time,  as  was  subsequently  ascertained,  a  boat 
party  from  Beechy's  Behring's  Strait  expedition,  was 
only  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  west  of  them  on 
the  same  coast. 

Franklin  and  his  party  reached  Fort  Franklin  in 
safety  on  the  21st  of  September,  after  traveling  in 
three  months  two  thousand  and  forty-eight  miles. 
Here  they  found  Dr.  Richai-dson  and  his  l)ai'ty,  who 
had  sailed  eastward  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie 
River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Coppermine,  and  thence 
overland  to  the  rendezvous,  making  altogether  a 
journey  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty 
miles. 

A  second  winter,  and  an  intensely  cold  one,  was 
passed  pleasantly  at  Fort  Franklin.  At  this  same 
time  Captain  Parry  was  wintering  amid  the  ice  at  a 


THE  MAGNETIC  POLE. 


237 


point  further  nortli,  as  related  in  former  chapters. 
It  chanced  that  the  magnetic  pole  lay  at  this  time 
between  them.  "  For  the  same  months,"  says  Frank- 
lin, "at  the  interval  of  only  one  year.  Captain  Parry 
and  myself  were  making  hourly  obsei-vations  on  two 
needles,  the  north  ends  of  which  pointed  almost  direct- 
ly towards  each  other,  though  our  actual  distance 
apart  did  not  exceed  eight  hundred  and  fifty-five  geo- 
graphical miles ;  and  while  the  needle  of  Port  Bowen 
was  increasing  its  westerly  direction,  ours  was  increas- 
ing its  easterly,  and  the  contrary — the  variation  being 
west  at  Port  Bo>\en,  and  east  at  Fort  Fr/^nklin — a 
beautiful  and  satisfactory  proof  of  the  solar  influence 
on  the  daily  variation."  ..   .,^      '  / 

When  spring  opened  Franklin  and  his  companions 
started  southward,  and  anived  in  London  in  Septem- 
ber. ,.,  ,  .  _„.    . 


m' 


^  ^  ? 


I  >»Ml». 


{    u 


^.i-yi  ■;»' 


!     :  1 


.    r,)- 

■fil 


,,^  •  CHAPTER  XVII.  ,      , 

ARCTIC  VOYAGES  OF  SCORESBY,  CLA\T:R. 
ING  AND  SABINE,  LYONS,  AND  BEECIIEY. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  while  we  are  greatly 
indebted  to  scientific  and  amateur  discovered  for  our 
lcnowle<lge  of  the  Arctic  regions,  we  are  also  under 
obligations  to.  practical  seamen  ;  and  among  them  no 
one  has  shown  more  zeal  and  intelligence  than  Cai>t., 
afterwards  Dr.,  Score8l)y.  This  gentleman,  bred  and 
reared,  as  it  were,  amid  the  tempests  and  snows  of 
the  North,  and  inheriting  the  love  of  ads  enture  from 
his  father  who  was  also  a  captain  in  the  whale  ser- 
vice and  gave  his  son  a  marine  education,  observed 
the  phenomena  of  the  Northern  seas,  with  an  encjuir- 
ing  and  scientific  eye  unusual  among  those  who  pur- 
sue the  rough  life  of  a  whaler. 

In  1800,  Capt.  Scoresby,  then  acting  as  mate  under 
his  father  who  commanded  a  Greenland  ship,  made  a 
nearer  approach  to  the  Noilh  Pole  than  liad  hitherto 
been  fully  authehticated ;  for  the  statements  of  the 
Dutch  and  other  navigators  who  boast  of  having  gone 
much  nearer,  are  subject  to  great  doubt  as  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  their  observations. 

Proceeding  by  Jan  Mayen  into  the  whale-bight, 
they  found  the  watere  encumbered  by  much  broken 

238 


8COHESBY  6   DISCO VKKIESl. 


239 


ice,  tlirougli  whieli  they  made  their  Avay  into  an  ojien 
sea  so  extensive  that  its  tenninutioii  ctmld  not  be  tUs- 
covered,  luit  was  estimated  to  extend  fonr  or  five 
hundred  s(|uare  leagues.  Advancing  nortlnvard,  they 
arrived  at  a  very  ch)8e  continuous  fieUl  of  ])ay-ice, 
compacted  hy  drifting  fragments.  Pushing  their  way 
through  this  by  the  most  hiborious  exertions,  tliey 
8ucceede<l  in  reaching  another  oj)en  sea,  unbounded, 
except  by  ice  on  the  south  and  land  in  the  distant 
east. 

As  their  object  was  to  catch  whales,  and  not  to 
visit  the  l\>le,  they  sailed  'n  a  north-Avest  direction, 
swiftly  crossing  the  short  meridians  of  this  parallel, 
and  soon  j)a8sed  from  the  tenth  degree  of  east  to  the 
eighth  of  west  longitude.  Their  latitude  was  70*^-35', 
and  the  sea  was  still  open  on  every  sjde.  As  they 
found  no  whales,  they  changed  therr  tack,  and  ran 
eastnorth-east  about  three  hundred  miles,  till  they 
came  to  the  nineteenth  degree  of  east  longitude  and 
to  latitude  Sl'^-SO' — only  about  five  hundred  geo- 
graphical  miles  from  the  Pole.  The  sea  lay  open 
before  them,  and  it  was  a  gi-eat  temptation  to  the 
young  and  daring  sailor  to  run  up  and  hang  his  cap 
on  the  N(»rth  Pole ;  but  the  father,  prudently  consid- 
ering that  he  had  been  fitted  out  by  a  mercantile  con- 
cern to  bring  home  a  cargo  of  whale  oil,  decided  not 
to  gratify  the  ambition  of  his  son,  and  tiu'ned  buck- 
wards  to  Ilakluyt's  Headland,  where  he  was  rewarded 
for  his  fidelity  to  his  employere  by  catching  tAveiiiy- 
four  whales,  from  which  were  extracted  two  hundred 
and  sixteen  tons  of  oil. 

Cajtt.  Scoresby,  the  younger,  aftenvards  had  abun- 
dant oiipoiiunity  to  gratify  his  love  of  adventure. 
In  1817  he  made  an  excursion  on  Jau  JSIayen's  Island. 


f!| 


( J. 


U 


iii'i 

hi 


240 


EXCUIiSIOK   ON   JAlf   HAYEK. 


I  ■'  f 


i  :: 


i  1  '  i 


Tlie  most  striking  feature  was  the  mountain  Beer- 
euberg,  Avhicli  rears  its  head  6870  feet  above  the  sea; 
and,  being  seen  to  tlie  distance  of  thirty  or  forty 
leagues,  proves  a  conspicuous  landmark  to  the  mar- 
iner. Tlie  first  objects  which  attracted  the  eye  were 
three  magnificent  icebergs,  which  rose  to  a  veiy  great 
height,  stretching  from  the  base  of  Beerenberg  to  the 
water's  edge.  Their  usual  greenish-gray  color,  diver- 
sified l)y  snow-white  patches  resembling  foam,  and 
with  bhu'k  points  of  rock  jutting  out  from  the  surface, 
gave  them  exactly  the  appearance  of  immense  cas- 
cades, wliich  in  falling  had  been  fixed  by  the  power 
of  frost. 

A  party  ascended  a  mountain  which  composed  only 
the  ])ase  of  Beerenberg,  yet  was  itself  1500  feet  liigh. 
They  were  not  long  in  discovenng  that  the  materials 
composing  this  eminence  were  entirely  volcanic.  They 
trod  only  upon  ashes,  slag,  baked  clay,  and  scoriie; 
and  Avhenever  these  substances  rolled  under  their 
feet,  the  ground  beneath  made  a  sound  like  that  of 
empty  metallic  vessels  or  vaulted  caverns.  On  the 
summit  they  discovered  a  spacious  cratei-,  about  GOO 
feet  deep,  and  700  yanls  in  diameter,  the  lM)ttom  of 
wliich  was  filled  with  alluvial  matter,  and  which,  ])eing 
surrounded  by  rugged  walls  of  red  clay  half-baked, 
had  the  ap]>earance  of  a  spacious  castle.  A  spring  of 
water  penetiated  its  side  by  a  subterranean  cavern, 
and  disappeared  in  the  sand.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  ascend  Beerenberg,  which  towered  in  awful  gran- 
deur, white  with  snow,  above  the  region  «)f  the  clouds; 
but  at  Its  feet  was  seen  another  cratei-  surr<)unde<l  by 
an  immense  accumulation  of  castellated  lava.  A  large 
mass  of  iron  was  found,  that  had  been  smelted  by  the 
interior  fires.    The  volcano  was  at  this  time  entuely 


w 


•^      AMONG   THE   MOUNTAINS.  " -fVt    f. 


241 


silent,  but  the  next  year  Scoresby  saw  smoke  arising 
from  it  to  a  great  luMglit. 

In  1818  he  landed  near  Mitre  Cape,  and  undertook 
to  reach  the  summit  of  the  singularly  iiiHulatetl  cliff 
of  which  it  consists.  ]\Iuch  of  the  ascent  wuh  over 
fragments  of  rock  so  loose  that  the  foot  in  walking 
slid  back  eveiy  step.  At  one  i)lace  the  ]>nrty  found 
a  ridge  so  steep  that  Scoresl)y  couhl  wiit  himself 
across  it  as  (Mi  the  back  of  a  horse.  They  rcacluMl  the 
sununit,  estimated  as  .SOOO  feet  high,  about  midnight 
when  the  sun  still  shone  on  its  snow-capjx'd  pinnacle, 
causing  such  a  rajtid  melting  that  streams  of  water 
were  flowing  around  them. 

The  view  from  this  sununit  is  described  by  Scoresby 
as  e((ually  grand,  extensive,  and  beautiful.  On  the 
east  side  were  two  finely-sheltered  l>ays,  while  the  sea, 
unruffled  by  a  single  breeze,  formed  an  inunense  ex- 
panse to  the  west.  The  icebergs  reared  their  fantastic 
forms  almost  on  a  level  Avith  the  summits  of  the 
nioimtains,  M'hose  cavities  they  filled,  while  the  sun 
illumined,  but  could  not  dissolve  them.  The  valleys 
were  enamelled  Avith  beds  of  snow  and  ice,  one  of 
which  extended  beyond  reach  of  the  eyi;.  In  the 
interior,  mountains  rose  beyond  mountains  till  they 
melted  into  distance.  The  cloudless  canopy  above, 
and  the  jiosition  of  the  party  themselves,  on  the  pin- 
nacle of  ii  rock  surrounded  by  tremendous  precipices, 
conspired  to  render  their  situation  ecpiaily  singular 
and  sublime.  If  a  fragment  was  detached,  either 
spontaneously  or  by  design,  it  bounded  from  rock  to 
rock,  raisi  ng  smoke  at  every  blow  and  setting  nmnerous 
other  fragments  in  motion,  till,  amid  showers  of  stones, 
it  reached  the  bottom  of  the  jnoimtain. 

The  descent  of  the  party  was  more  difficult  and 


f 


I 


m 


i  I  ii 


1       t    ■» 

liiu-ii    ii 

242 


A   PERILOUS   DESCENT. — KEFKACTIOX. 


i      h 


perilous  than  tlie  ascent.  The  ntones  sunk  henenth 
their  steps  and  rolled  down  the  niountuiii,  and  they 
were  obliged  to  walk  abreast ;  otherwise  the  foremost 
might  have  been  overwhelmed  under  th»'  nuisses  which 
those  behind  him  dislodged.  Finally,  to  the  astonish- 
ment and  alarm  of  the  sailors  beneath,  Seoresby  and 
his  companions,  in  a  paifc  of  tlu'ir  descent,  slid  down 
an  almost  perpendicular  wall  of  ice,  and  arrived  in 
safety  at  the  8hi])3.  The  beaclj  was  found  nearly 
covered  witli  the  nests  of  terns,  ducks,  and  other  ten- 
ants of  tlu;  Arctic  air,  in  some  ol  which  there  were 
young,  over  whom  the  parents  kept  watch,  and,  by 
lou<l  cries  and  vehement  gestures,  s(mght  to  dt^fend 
them  against  the  gulls  and  other  predatory  tribes  hov- 
ering around.  Several  sailors  wlu)  had  robbed  these 
.nests  were  f<tllowed  to  a  considerable  distance  with 
loud  and  vicdent  screams. 

In  a  sul)se(pient  whaling  voyage  along  the  coast  of 
Gre(?nland  in  the  good  ship  Baffin,  Seoresby  made 
some  important  geographical  diseoveries,  and  his 
attenticju  was  particularly  attracted  to  the  refractive 
power  of  the  Polar  atmosphere  when  acting  on  ice 
and  other  ol)jects  discerned  through  its  medium.  The 
rugged  surface  assumed  the  forms  of  castles,  obelisks, 
and  s[)ires,  which  here  and  there  were  sometimes  so 
linked  together  as  to  present  the  semblance  of  an  ex- 
tensive and  crowded  city.  At  other  times  it  res(;mbled 
a  forest  of  naked  trees ;  and  fancy  scarcely  recpiired 
an  effort  to  identify  its  varieties  with  the  productions 
of  human  art ; — scul[>tured  colossal  foi-rns,  porticoes  of 
rich  and  regular  architecture, — (;ven  with  the  shapes 
of  lions,  bears,  horses,  and  other  animals.  Ships  were 
seen  inverted,  and  suspended  high  in  the  air,  and 
their  hulls  often  so  magnified  as  to  resemble  huge 


DESEBTEf>  HABITATIONS. 


243 


edifices.  Objects  really  ])eneath  the  horizon  were 
raised  into  view  in  a  nioHt  extraordinaiy  manner.  It 
fieeniH  jKwitively  ascertained,  that  points  in  the  coast 
of  (ireenland  not  above  4000  feet  high,  were  seen  at 
tlie  distance  of  ir)0  miles.  The  extensive  evaporation 
of  the  melting  ices,  v/ith  the  unequal  condensation 
produced  by  streams  of  cold  air,  are  conHidercd  bv 
Mr.  Scoresby  as  tli.j  chief  sources  of  this  extraordinary 
refraction. 

The  coasts  of  Greenland  were  found  richer  in  plants 
and  verdure  than  any  others  Heen  by  our  navigator 
within  the  Arctic  circle,  and  almost  deserving  the 
name  given  to  the  country  by  its  first  discoverers. 
The  grass  run  in  one  i>lace  to  one  foot  in  height,  and 
there  wei'e  mea<lows  of  several  acres  that  aj)peared 
nearly  e([ual  to  any  in  England.  Nowhere  was  a 
human  being  seen,  but  there  were  traces  of  recent  and 
fro(pient  habitations,  not  constructed  of  snow  slabs 
hke  those  of  the  Esfpiimaux,  but  dug  deep  in  the 
ground,  entered  by  a  loug  Avinding  passage,  and  roof- 
ed with  a  wooden  frame  overlaid  with  moss  and  earth. 
Near  the  luunlets  were  excavations  in  the  earth,  serv- 
ing as  graves,  where  implements  of  hunting,  found 
along  with  the  bones  of  the  deceased,  proved  the  prev- 
alence here  of  the  general  belief  of  savage  nature, 
that  the  employments  of  man  in  the  future  life  Avill 
exactly  resemble  those  of  the  present. 

Our  navigator  would  have  been  happy  i."»  examine 
more  of  the  Greenland  coast,  but  the  ship  was  not  his 
own,  and  the  o])ject  of  his  voyage  being  to  catch 
M'hales,  he  was  compelled  to  turn  in  another  direction. 

Scoresby's  discoveries  and  observations  are  appro- 
priately followed  l)y  those  of  Captains  EdAvard  Sabine 
and    D.  C.   Clavering,    v;hich  were    made  more  in 


t 


T 


li 


i- 


I:  m. 


ill 


m 


\  iM't 

r 


4  \  ■  I 
I 


H 


244 


CnUISE  OF  TlIE  GRIPER. 


behalf  of  science  than  geographical  discover}'.  SaLine 
had  long  been  interested  in  philosopliical  exiierinients 
on  the  sliape  of  the  earth  by  means  of  the  pendulum, 
and  nnder  the  patronage  of  the  English  Government 
had  visited  Siewa  Leone,  St.  Thomas,  Trinidad  and 
other  AV^est  India  islands,  and  also  New  York,  in  the 
ship  Pheasant  commanded  by  Clavering.  So  con- 
genial was  the  society  of  these  two  gentlemen,  that 
when  it  was  jiroposed  to  Sabine  to  extend  his  obser- 
vations into  the  Polar  regions,  he  requested  that  Clav- 
eiing  might  command  the  gun-brig.  Griper,  which  had 
been  designated  to  convey  him  noithward ;  and  he  did 
so.  The  Griper  sailed  from  the  Nore,  May  lltli, 
1823,  being  duly  furnished  with  the  magnetic  pendu- 
lum and  various  astronomical  and  scientific  iustni- 
ments. 

The  fii-st  destination  of  the  Griper  was  Ilammerfest, 
near  the  North  Cape  of  Norway,  where  she  arrived 
on  the  23d  of  June.  This  place,  built  on  a  small 
island  named  Qualoen,  is  in  latitude  70'^'40',  autl  tlit 
dip  of  the  needle  here  Capt.  Sabine  foxuul  to  be  77" 
40'.  Ilanuneifest  was  only  a  luunlet  containing  some 
dozen  houses,  and  our  travelers  were  much  j)leased 
with  the  simple  manners  and  kind  hospitality  of  the 
people,  who  were  delighted  with  the  idea  of  a  visit 
from  a  nnm-of-war,  even  if  it  was  no  larger  than  the 
little  Gi-iper.  The  women  Avere  fair  and  pretty  ancL 
dressid  much  like  English  women.  Remote  from  the 
fashionable  world,  they  were  untainte<l  with  cither 
its  vices  or  follies.  Religious  influences  controlled 
the  hamlet  and  deviations  from  the  rules  of  moi-ality 
were  exceedingly  rare.  The  trade  of  the  place  w;is 
entirely  in  fish  and  oil,  and  reindeer  the  sole  animal. 

Having  finished   his  observation  at  Ilaminci-fest, 


A   CRUISE  IN  HIGH  LATITUDE. 


245 


Sabine  embarked  on  the  23d  of  June  for  Spitzbergen 
and  vicinity,  and  on  the  30th  anchored  abreast  of  a 
small  island,  one  of  the  inner  Norways,  and  disem- 
barked the  tents  and  instruments.  While  Sabine  was 
making  his  observations  here,  Clavenng  determined 
to  sail  northward — to  the  North  Pole  if  possible, — to 
see  what  he  could  see  in  the  high  latitudes. 

Accordingly,  leaving  six  men  to  assist  Sabine,  and 
six  months'  provisions  and  fuel  so  that  if  an}  thing 
should  happen  to  the  Griper  the  philoso})lier  might 
not  starve  or  freeze,  and  a  launch  in  which  he  might 
make  his  Avay  back  to  Hammei-fest,  the  brave  sailor 
steered  due  north  on  the  5th  of  July,  with  the  North 
Pole  for  his  destination.  Aftc'  sailing  twenty-five 
miles  he  found  himself  embayed  among  ice.  Pi'o- 
ceeding  cautiously,  he  struck  on  the  Oth  a  field  of 
packed  ice  extending  east  and  west  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach.  Skirting  the  margin  of  this  ticld  in  a 
line  nearly  west  for  sixty  miles  and  perceiving  no  ap- 
pearance of  an  opening,  he  concluded  it  would  be  use- 
less to  make  further  attempt  to  reach  the  Pule  in  this 
region,  and  accordingly  returned  to  Capt.  Sabine  on 
the  11th  of  July.  The  highest  latitude  reached  by 
Clavering  was  80^  iO'. 

The  magnetic  pendulum  having  swung  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  j)hilosopher  and  all  due  obsfM'vations 
having  been  taken  of  the  stars,  the  (J riper  was  stored 
with  fifty  reindeer  for  fresh  provisions,  and  headed 
for  Uael  Ilamkes'  Bay,  the  highest  point  known  on 
th'^  eastern  coast  of  Greenland,  whioh  they  reached, 
after  mavy  impediments  from  ice  on  the  Sth  of 
August.  A  boat  was  sent  on  shore  at  a  j>oint  which 
thoy  called  Cape  Warren,  "than  which,"  Clavenng 
says,  "never  was  there  a  more  desolate  spot  seen. 
S])itzbei'geu  was  a  paradise  to  this  place." 


it:  \\ 


246 


ON  THE  EAST  GREENLAND   COAST. 


\ 


'H 


in 

■  I  '1'' 


n  .1 


'1^ 


:  ?'  >'. 


I  ^  i 


Proceetling  along  the  coast  to  the  northward,  among 
floes  of  ice,  they  discovered  two  islands  which  they 
named  Pendulum  Islands.  Having  passed  them, 
Clavering  advanced  northward  till  blocked  by  ice  in 
latitude  75*12'.  He  had  now  reached  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  the  north-east  corner  of  Greenland, 
formed  by  an  island  which  he  named  "  Shannon." 

ReturninEf  to  the  Pendulum  Islands  as  the  best 
place  for  Sabine  to  make  his  observations,  Clavering 
left  the  Griper  and  the  jjhilosopher  there,  and  with 
his  yawl,  wherry,  and  a  party  of  twenty,  started  off 
southwai'd  to  see  what  he  could  see.  At  Cape  AVar- 
ren  they  landed,  and  found  traces  of  natives  and  several 
graves.  Proceeding  up  an  ann  of  the  bay,  a  tent  of 
seal  skins  was  found  on  the  beach,  and  two  natives 
appeared  on  the  heights,  who  seemed  n<it  to  differ 
from  the  common  race  of  the  Esquimaux.  They  were 
shy  at  fii-st,  but  their  confidence  Avas  gradually  won. 
The  whole  tribe  numbered  only  twelve.  Great  was 
their  surprise  at  the  firing  of  guns  and  pistols.  One 
of  them  was  induced  to  fire  a  pistol,  and  he  was  so 
frightened  that  he  slunk  away  into  his  tent,  and  the 
following  morning  it  was  found  they  had  all  departed 
leaving  their  tents  and  everything  behiiul  them, 
doubtless  frightened  away  by  the  magical  effects  of 
gunpowder. 

On  the  20th  of  August,  Clavering  and  party  return- 
ed to  the  Griper,  and  the  philosopher  having  fiiii-<hcd 
his  experiments,  all  set  sail  on  the  31st,  coasting  alcmg 
the  shore  of  Greenland  till  the  13th  of  September. 
The  coast  everywhere  appeared  mountainous,  lising 
up  in  peaks  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  high. 
The  ice  floes  and  fields  making  it  dangerous  sailing 
near  the  shores,  the  Gri})er  headed  for  Norway,  where 


.nv 


SCrENTiriO   FBOBLEMS   SOLVED. 


247 


they  arrived  on  the  23d  of  September.  At  Dron- 
theim  Fiord,  Capt.  Sabine  landed  and  made  further 
experiments ;  the  expedition  then  returned  safely  to 
England  in  December,  after  an  absence  of  seven 
months,  and  after  successfully  accomplishing  the  re- 
sults for  which  it  was  planned. 

The  scientific  results  of  this  and  former  expeditions 
of  Captain  Sabine  and  others,  are  thus  summed  up  by 
him.  "  The  attempt  to  determine  the  figure  of  the 
earth,  by  the  variation  of  gravity  at  its  surface,  has 
been  carried  into  full  execution  on  an  arc  of  the  me- 
ridian of  the  greatest  accessible  extent,  and  the  results 
which  it  has  produced  are  seen  to  be  consistent  with 
each  other,  in  combinations  too  varied  to  admit  of  the 
correspondence  being  accidental.  They  are  in  fact 
the  combinations  of  twenty-eight  stations — thirteen  of 
Captain  Sabine's,  eight  of  the  French  Savan's  and  seven 
of  the  British  Survey.  The  result  is  that  the  length 
of  a  pendulum  vibrating  seconds  at  the  equator  is 
39.01.52  inches.  The  increase  of  gravitation  between 
the  Ecpiator  and  the  Pole  is  0.202-15,  and  the  ellip- 
ticity  is  4" 

The  second  voyage  of  Capt.  Lyon  to  tlie  A  ctic 
regions  was  undertaken  with  a  view  to  co;  ii)lete  the 
land  survey  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  north  coast 
of  North  America,  from  the  western  shore  of  Mehille 
Peninsula  to  Cape  Turn-again,  the  eastern  limit  of 
Franklin's  first  journey.  Although  it  did  not  result 
in  any  groat  discoveries,  it  illustrates  the  perils  and 
lirings  out  In  bright  relief  the  heroic  ohai-arter  of 
Arctic  navigators.  The  vessel  designated  i'or  the 
servii-e  was  the  Griper.  She  sailed  from  England  June 
19th,  1824. 

At  the  Orkue^'  Islands   two   ponies   were   taken 

15 


m 


m 

I*  I    "i 
J  I  I    > 


I   .5  I 


Jill  i 

ill  i 

1 


i;' 


m 


248 


THE  SNOW-BUNTING. 


t,-.-n 


aboard  ;  also  a  cow  and  some  sheep.  The  cow  was 
so  sea-sick  that  she  refused  to  eat,  and  was  therefore 
eaten;  but  the  ponies  proved  good  sailors. 

Early  in  June,  the  Griper  api)roached  Resolution 
Island  at  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait.  Here 
Esquiniitux  were  met  who  brouglit  articles  for  barter. 
Lyon  says,  "  I  blush  when  I  relate  it,  two  of  the  fair 
sex  actually  disposed  of  their  neither  garments." 
On  the  2 2d  of  August  Southampton  Island  was  in 
sight.  "When  off  Cape  Pembroke  the  compasses  were 
found  to  be  nenly  useless. 

As  Lyon  was  taking  a  walk  on  shore  one  day  he 
crossed  an  Esquimaux  burial-place,  and  found  the 
grave  of  a  child  slightly  covered  with  stones,  through 
which  a  snow-bunting  had  found  its  way  to  the  neck 
of  the  child  and  there  built  its  nest.  This  biid  is 
considered  by  Arctic  navigators  as  the  robin  of  thtse 
dreary  regions,  having  all  the  domestic  virtues  of  the 
English  redbreast ;  its  lively  chirp  and  fearless  con- 
fidence have  rendered  it  respected  by  the  most  hun- 
gry sportsman.  An  English  lady  on  reading  this 
incident,  was  inspired  with  the  following  >eautiful 
verses : — 

"  Sweet  bird !  the  breast  of  innocence 
^;  Hath  fadeless  charms  for  tlieo  ; 

"^  AIth<)U(7h  tht!  spirit  lonpr  has  fled, 

And  lifeless  clay  it  be ; 

Thou  dreadeat  not  to  dwell  with  death, 

Secure  from  harm  or  ill, 
For  on  an  infant's  heart,  thj  nest 

Is  wrought  with  fearless  skill 

And,  like  our  own  familiar  bird 

Tliat  seeks  the  human  friend, 
Tlinii  clieer'st  the  wandering  seaman's  thoughts 

With  home,  his  aim  and  end." 

In  Howe's  Welcome  Bay,  the  fog,  heavy  sea,  and 
shallow  water  combined,  made  navigation  most  peril- 


11  I- 


ii 


BAT  OF  OOD's  MEBCT. 


249 


ous.  Of  their  situation  here  Lyon  says:  "I  most 
reluctantly  brought  the  Griper  up  with  three  bow- 
ers and  a  stream  anchor,  but  not  before  we  had 
shoaled  to  five  and  a  half  fathoms,  the  ship  pitching 
bows  under,  and  a  tremendous  sea  ininning."  The 
peril  being  imminent,  the  long  l)oat  was  prepared  to 
})e  hoisted  out  with  the  four  small  ones,  and  the 
officers  and  men  drew  lots  with  great  composure  for 
their  respective  boats,  although  two  of  the  boats 
would  have  been  swamped  the  instant  they  were 
lowered. 

"  Although  few  or  none  of  us  had  any  idea  that 
we  should  survive  the  gale,  we  did  not  think  that 
our  comforts  should  be  entirely  neglected,  and  an 
order  was  therefore  given  to  the  men  to  put  on  their 
best  and  warmest  clothing,  to  enable  them  to  support 
life  as  long  as  possible.  Every  man,  therefore, 
brought  his  bag  on  deck,  and  dressed  himself;  and  in 
the  fine  athletic  forms  which  stood  exposed  before  me,  I 
did  not  see  one  muscle  quiver,  nor  the  slightest  sign  of 
alarm.  And  now  that  every  thing  in  our  power  had 
been  C  i,  I  called  all  hands  aft,  and  to  a  merciful 
God  oft'ered  prayers  for  our  preservation.  I  thanked 
everv  one  for  their  excellent  conduct,  and  cautioned 
them,  as  we  should  in  all  probability  soon  ai)i)ear 
before  our  Maker,  to  enter  his  i)resunce  as  men 
resigned  to  their  fate.  We  then  all  sat  down  in 
groups,  and,  sheltered  from  the  Avash  of  the  sea  l)y 
wliatever  we  could  find,  many  of  us  endeavored  to 
obtain  a  little  sleej).  Never,  perhaps,  Avas  witness^nl 
a  liner  scene  than  on  the  deck  of  my  little  shi]),  when 
all  hope  of  life  had  left  us.  God  Avas  merciful  to  lis  ; 
the  tide  almost  miraculously  fell  no  loAver,  the  wind 
ceased  and  we  were  saved."  This  locality  Avas  voiy 
properly  named  Bay  of  God's  Mercy. 


!       i 


i!| 


I  i-ij 


250 


APPROACH   TO   KAMCHATKA. 


(■■« 


ii  ! 


A  similar  storm  occurred  in  September,  opposite 
the  mouth  of  Wager's  River,  during  which  one 
anchor  after  another  parted,  and  the  vessel  drifted 
away  in  the  darkness,  but  escaped  wreck.  The  sit- 
uation, however,  was  still  a  precarious  one,  and  with- 
out anchors  and  in  a  crippled  condition,  the  ship  was 
headed  for  England  where  it  arrived  in  November. 

The  object  of  Captain  Beechey's  expedition  to 
Bering's  Straits  in  1825,  was  not  so  much  for  the 
purposes  of  discovery  as  to  render  assistance  to  Parry 
and  Franklin,  and  especially  to  the  latter — who  was 
then  on  his  second  land  expedition — should  he  be 
successful  in  working  westward  from  the  Mackenzie 
River  to  Kotzebue  Sound,  the  place  of  rendezvous  for 
both  explorers. 

Beechey  sailed  from  England  in  the  sloop  Blossom, 
May  19th,  1825,  with  instructions  to  proceed  around 
Cape  Horn,  visit  the  English  possessions  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  arrive  at  the  rendezvous  by  July, 
1826,  there  to  remain  till  the  approach  of  winter,  in 
case  neither  Franklin  nor  Parry  were  heard  from. 
Late  in  June  1826,  the  Blossom  approached  Petro- 
paulski,  after  having  sailed  seven  hundred  miles  in  a 
dense  fog,  which  now  cleared  up  and  revealed  tlie 
lofty  mountains  and  volcanoes  of  Kamchatka.  "  Noth- 
ing could  surpass  the  serenity  of  the  evening,  or  tlie 
magnificence  of  the  mountains  capped  with  perennial 
snows,  rising  in  majestic  array  above  each  other.  The 
volcano  emitted  smoke  occasionally,  and  from  a 
sprinkling  of  black  dots  on  the  snow  to  the  leeward 
of  the  crater,  we  concluded  there  had  been  a  recent 
eruption." 

At  Petropaulski,  Beechey  found  dispatches  announ- 
cing the  return  of  the  expedition  under  Parry.     Cor- 


Hi 


p. 


dial  was 
by  the  ci 
coiupliauc 
that  he  s 
English  m 
seated  Be 

On  the 
Lawrence 
out  in  bo) 
lady  amu 
upon  thei 
peltry,  fro 
cautiously 
implying  I 
it,  and  enc 
a  good  l)j 
would  no 
trade  are 
the  great 
of  the  wc 
cles  highlj 
suspicious 
if  they  w< 
of  these  i 
those  of  i 
hands  ove 

Beech  e} 
the  two  g 
still  night 
Ari'tic  res 
wIk'u  the 
below  the 
northern  ( 
continents 


TIIE  LAWRENOE-ISLANDEES. 


251 


dial  was  the  hospitality  extended  to  the  explorers 
by  the  citizens  of  the  little  town,  and  the  pastor,  in 
compliance  with  the  injunctions  of  his  grandfather, 
that  he  should  send  a  calf  to  the  captain  of  every 
English  man-of-war  that  might  arrive  in  the  poi-t,  pre- 
sented Beechey  with  one  of  his  own  rearing. 

On  the  voyage  north  the  Blossom  stopped  off 
Lawrence  Island,  and  the  natives  immediately  came 
out  in  boats,  evidently  anxious  for  a  trade.  One  old 
lady  amused  the  crew  by  her  attempts  to  impose 
upon  their  credulity.  She  was  seated  upon  a  bag  of 
peltry,  from  which  she  now  and  then  drew  out  a  skin, 
cautiously  exhibited  the  best  part  of  it  with  a  look 
implying  that  it  was  of  great  value,  repeatedly  hugged 
it,  and  endeavored  to  coax  her  new  acquaintances  into 
a  good  bargain ;  but  it  w'as  easy  to  see  that  her  furs 
would  not  bear  close  examination.  The  tricks  of 
trade  are  not  confined  to  civilization.  Tobacco  was 
the  great  want  of  the  men,  and  needles  and  scissors 
of  the  women,  and  with  both  blue  beads  were  arti- 
cles highly  esteemed.  They,  however,  seemed  a  little 
suspicious  of  the  latter,  and  bit  them,  possibly  to  see 
if  they  were  made  of  wax.  The  mode  of  salutation 
of  these  natives  was  by  rubbing  their  noses  against 
those  of  their  friends  and  drawing  the  palms  of  their 
hands  over  the  face. 

Beechey  passed  Bering's  Strait,  which  separates 
the  two  great  continents,  on  one  of  those  beautiful 
still  nights  well  known  to  all  who  have  visited  the 
Arctic  regions,  Avhen  the  sky  is  without  a  cloud,  and 
when  the  midnight  sun,  scarcely  his  own  diameter 
below  the  horizon,  tinges  with  a  bright  hue  all  the 
northern  circle.  The  extremities  of  the  two  great 
continents  were  distinctly  seen,  and  the  islands  in  the 


i 


253 


CUSTOMS   OF  TUE  ALASKAXS. 


I   i     t 


.     1 


;  J 


:  \    ill 


strait  clearly  ascertained  to  be  only  three,  as  Lad 
been  stated  by  Capt.  Cook. 

A  little  north  of  Cape  Prince  of  "Wales,  they  were 
again  visited  by  the  natives  who  were  eager  for  trade 
and  willingly  sold  everything  they  had,  except  their 
bows  and  arrows.  They  were  noisy  and  ever  ready 
for  a  joke.  They  had  a  curious  appendage  to  tluir 
dress,  worn  as  an  ornament  in  the  shape  of  a  bird's 
wing  or  the  tail  of  a  fox,  tied  to  the  end  of  a  stiiiig 
fastened  to  their  girdles,  which  dangled  behind  as 
they  walked,  giving  thera  a  ridiculous  appearance, 
and  probably  occasioning  the  report,  recorded  by 
some  traveler,  that  the  people  of  this  country  have 
tails  like  dogs.  To  this  dog-tail  slander,  they  might 
perhaps  retort  that  civilized  women  had  camel's 
humps  on  their  backs. 

At  Schismareff  Inlet  were  seen  the  lip  ornaments 
common  to  this  coast.  They  consist  of  pieces  of  ivory, 
stone  or  glass,  formed  with  double  heads,  like  sleeve 
buttons,  which  are  inserted  in  holes  bored  in  the 
under  lip  about  half  an  inch  below  the  corners  of  the 
mouth.  The  diameter  of  the  orifice  in  those  worn 
by  adults  is  usually  about  half  an  inch,  but  Beethey 
saw  one  lip  button  made  of  polished  jade  stone,  that 
was  three  inches  in  length  and  an  inch  and  a  half  in 
width. 

On  the  22d  of  July,  Beechey  reached  his  rendezvous, 
Chamisso  Island  in  Kotzebue  Sound,  but  could  find  no 
traces  of  Franklin. 

Leaving  the  barge  to  keep  in  shore  on  the  look-out 
for  Franklin,  Beechey  sailed  northward  as  far  as  Icy 
Cape.  Finding  indications  of  the  ice  closing  in,  he 
then  returned  to  the  sound  and  dispatched  the  bar^e 
under  the  command  of  Messrs.  Elsou  and  Smyth  with 


WRECK   OF  THE   BAKGE. 


253 


instructions  to  trace  the  coast  to  the  North-east  as  far 
as  they  coukl  penetrate.  They  succeeded  in  survey- 
ing one  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles  of  new  coast,  and 
were  stopped  by  a  long,  low,  projecting  tongue  of 
land  which  they  named  Point  Barrow.  Here  they 
were  within  one  hundred  and  forty-six  miles  of  the 
extreme  point  reached  by  Franklin. 

By  the  middle  of  October  the  Esquimaux  had  all 
departed  to  their  winter-quarters,  the  birds  had 
migrattd,  the  sea  Avas  rapidly  being  frozen,  and 
Beechey  sailed  for  San  Francisco  where  he  wintered. 

In  the  following  season,  Beechey  returned  to 
Chamisso  Island,  where  he  anchored  August  5th. 
Here  the  barge  was  again  called  into  reciuisition,  and 
under  command  of  Lieutenant  Belcher,  it  started 
tioiih  and  reached  a  point  some  forty  miles  easterly 
of  Icy  Cape,  but  could  go  no  further  in  consequence 
of  the  ice.  On  the  -way  back  Belcher  stopped  at 
Choris  Peninsula  to  erect  an  observatory.  While 
all  the  party  but  two  were  on  shore,  a  gale  sprung 
up.  The  crew  Aveie  immediately  ordered  aboard  and 
one  trip  of  the  small  boat  landed  three  persons  on 
the  barge,  but  an  attempt  to  reach  it  a  second  time 
was  unsuccessful.  The  vessel  soon  sunk  in  shallow 
water,  and  two  of  her  crew  were  drowned  in  attempt- 
ing to  reach  shore.  The  others  retreated  to  the 
rigging,  but  one  fell  and  perished;  the  other  two 
were  rescued  after  the  sea  subsided. 

Meantime,  Beechey  had  been  on  an  excursion  in  the 
Blossom,  and  when  returning  to  the  rendezvous,  dis- 
covered with  telescopes  a  flag  flying  on  the  coast  and 
two  men  waving  white  cloths.  The  possibility  of  its 
being  Franklin's  party  was  the  first  wish  of  his  mind ; 
but  this  was  soon  dispelled  as  a  nearer  view  of  the 


•r 


i  I)        i 


"    li 


f!  -l  i 


SKIRMISnEfl    WITH   THE   NATIVKS. 

flag  proved  it  to  be  the  ensign  of  his  own  hoat 
hoisted  with  tlie  union  downward  indicative  of  dis- 
tress, and  Belcher  and  his  surviving  in«!n  were  soon  rec- 
ognized and  oared  for.  They  had  experienced  some 
trouble  with  the  natives  after  the  loss  of  their  ])arge, 
and  subsequently  the  crew  of  the  Blossom  had  skir- 
mishes mth  them  in  which  several  of  the  seamen 
were  wounded  by  arrows,  and  one  or  more  of  the 
Esquimaux  killed.  Beechey  tlid  not  punish  them  as 
they  deserved,  as  he  was  unwilling  to  awahen  senti- 
ments which  might  prove  injiirious  to  other  Euro- 
peans. 

The  balance  of  the  season  was  passed  in  futile 
attem])ts  to  find  Franklin,  and  grieved  and  disap- 
pointed, Capt.  Beechey  left  Kotzebue's  Sound,  Oct.  Gth, 
1827 ;  but  did  not  arrive  in  England  till  the  autumn 
of  1828,  having  been  absent  three  and  a  half  yeai's. 


e  '^ 


i!:'  = 


I'm   ^ 


^^' 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
PARRY'S  POLAR  VOYAGE. 

Tin?  sclioi!  '  of  rcftching  the  Polo  l)y  travoliiicj  over 
the  frozen  surface  of  the  ocean  was  first  su«r,ir('st('(l  by 
Mr.  Scores])}'.  He  believed  that  the  Polar  Sea  in 
some  meridians  presented  one  continuous  sheet  of  toh 
erably  smooth  ice,  which  could  be  traversed  without 
{:;reat  difficulty.  The  idea  was  taken  up  by  Capt. 
Parry,  wliose  brilliant  voyacjes  to  tlie  North-west  had 
led  him  to  suspect  that  further  prot;ress  in  that  di- 
rection was  hopeless,  and  an  ex]K'dition  was  fitted  out 
which  left  England,  April  4th,  1827,  in  the  sloop 
Heel  a. 

The  plan  was  to  proceed  in  this  vessel  as  far  north 
as  possible,  when  a  portion  of  the  crew  were  to  leave 
the  ship,  with  two  boats  on  runners,  Avhich  were  to 
he  dragged  or  navigated  as  circumstances  might 
admit,  over  the  unknown  and  desolate  expanse  be- 
tween Spitzbergen  and  the  Pole.  These  boats  were 
twenty  feet  long  and  seven  broad,  with  runnei-s  at- 
tached to  each  side  of  the  keel  so  that  they  could  be 
drawn  on  the  ice  like  sleds.  Wheels  were  also  taken 
along  for  use,  if  practicable. 

At  Hamrnerfest  eight  noble  reindeer  were  taken 
on  board  ship,  with  which  the  adventurers  hoped  to 
make  a  stage  journey  to  the  Pole.     As  each  boat  with 

255 


256 


PARRY   AND   HIS   DEER, 


Hfl 


its  cargo  weiglied  nearly  two  tons,  a  four-in-hand  team 
would  certainly  be  an  aid  on  the  icy  road.  At  all  events 
the  deer  served  to  beguile  the  tediousness  of  the  pas- 
sage to  Spitzbergen,  and  all  hands  became  much  attach- 
ed to  them.  The  regular  allowance  of  clean  moss  for 
each  deer  v/as  four  pounds  daily,  but  in  case  of  neces- 
sity they  would  go  five  or  six  days  without  prov- 
ender and  not  suflfer  materially.  The  adaption  of  these 
animals  to  the  Frigid  Zone  ij  wcndeiful.  Snow  is 
their  favorite  drink, — if  the  bull  may  be  j)ardoued, — 
and  cold,  hard  ice  is  as  comfortable  and  ehistic  a  bed 
as  they  desire;  at  least  they  never  complain  when  fur- 
nished with  such  sleeping  accommodations,  canopied 
over  by  the  vaulted  arch  of  heaven. 

PaiTy  was  enamoi-ed  with  his  deer — the  only  draw- 
back to  his  happiness  being  the  thought  that  dire  ne- 
cessity might  compel  him  and  his  crew  to  eat  them. 

The  Ilecla  rounded  Ilakluyt's  Headland  May  14th, 
and  met  with  a  tremendous  gale  which  almost  lay  the 
ship  on  her  beam  ends,  and  tossed  her  like  a  feather ; 
and  she  was  soon  completely  beset  by  a  large  floe 
which  carried  her  eastward.  After  release  from  this 
tedious  imprisonment  of  twenty -four  days,  came  along 
and  anxious  search  for  a  secure  harbor. 

At  length  the  Ilecla  was  anchored  in  a  fine  harbor 
which  the  Dutch  had  named  Treurenberg  Bay,  but 
now  rechristened  as  Hecla  Cove.  Numerous  graves 
were  found  on  the  shore.  The  bodies  had  been  depos- 
ited in  oblong  boxes  and  covered  with  stones :  a  ])oard 
near  the  head  recording  the  name  of  the  deceased  and 
the  time  of  his  death.  One  was  dated  as  far  back  as 
1690,  and  Parry  was  right  in  conjecturing  that  the 
Dutch  name  of  the  bay  was  derived  from  treuren^  to 
lament,  on  account  of  the  mortality  which  had  oc- 


THE   START   FOR  THE   POLE. 


257 


curred  here.  Tills  was  not  encouraging  to  the  party 
who  were  to  remain  with  the  ship,  but  there 
was  no  time  to  be  lost,  and  brave  sailors  must  not  Vd 
frightened  by  graves  or  ghostly  shadows. 

On  the  22d  of  June  the  excursion  party  left  the 
ship  amid  the  cheers  of  their  associates.  The  boats 
were  severally  commanded  by  Parry  and  James  C. 
Ross.  Lt.  Crozier,  afterwards  second  in  command  of 
the  lost  Franklin  expedition,  was  one  of  the  officers 
who  remained  with  theHecla.  Provision  for  seventy 
days  were  taken  along,  but  the  "  eight  tiny  reindeer  " 
were  left  behind,  with  the  Avheels,  Parry  having  seen 
enough  of  the  rugged  surface  of  the  ice  to  convince 
him  that  they  would  be  of  more  use  to  Santa  Claus 
than  to  himself.  What  became  of  these  animals  which 
had  so  much  interested  Parry,  he  omits  to  mention. 
The  stern  realities  of  the  Northern  Sea  probably 
drove  all  sentimentallsm  from  his  mind. 

For  eighty  miles  they  proceeded  due  north,  sailing 
8lo\vly  through  a  calm  and  smooth  open  sea.  In  lati- 
tude 8 1  *  1 2  ^  LI "  they  were  stopped  by  slush  ice,  which 
could  neither  be  walked  nor  sailed  over,  but  was  to  be 
passed  by  the  two  methods  alternately.  Here  com- 
menced the  real  labor  of  their  fatiguing  and  mouot- 
ouoas  journey. 

The  first  step  was  to  convert  night  into  day ;  to 
begin  their  journey  in  the  evening  and  end  it  in  the 
nioi-ning.  Thus  their  notions  of  night  and  day  became 
inverted.  They  rose  in  what  they  called  the  morning, 
hut  which  was  really  late  in  the  evening,  and  having 
peribrnied  their  devotions,  breakfasted  on  warm  co- 
coa and  biscuit.  They  then  drew  on  their  boots, 
usually  either  wet  or  hard  frozen;  and  v.  liich,  though 
perfectly  di'ied,  would  have  been  equally  soaked  in 


Vt\\ 


« fli 


258 


A  JOUENEY   CN  ICE. 


fifteen  minutes.  The  party  then  traveled  five  or  six 
hours,  and  a  little  after  midnight  stopped  to  dine. 

They  now  performed  an  equal  journey  in  what  was 
called  the  afternoon ;  and  in  the  evening,  that  is,  at 
an  advanced  morning  hour,  halted  as  for  the  night. 
They  then  applied  themselves  to  obtain  rest  anil 
comfort,  put  on  dry  stockings  and  fur-boot«,  cooked 
something  Avarm  for  supper,  smoked  their  pipes,  told 
over  their  exploits,  and,  forgetting  the  toils  of  the 
day,  enjoyed  an  interval  of  ea&e  and  gayety.  Then, 
wrapping  themselves  in  their  fur-cloaks,  they  lay  down 
in  the  boat,  rather  too  close  together  perhaps,  hut 
wnth  very  tolerable  comfort.  The  sound  of  a  bugle 
roused  them  at  night  to  their  breakfast  of  cocoa,  and 
to  a  repetition  of  the  same  round. 

Instead  of  a  smooth,  level  surface,  which  they  ex- 
pected to  find,  over  which  a  coach  might  be  driven, 
the  ice  consisted  of  small,  loose  and  rugged  masses, 
compelling  the  men  to  make  two  or  three  trips  in 
order  to  bring  up  the  boats  and  baggage.  One  day 
during  heavy  rain  they  advanced  but  half  a  mile  in 
four  hours.  In  short,  it  was  found,  by  an  observation 
taken  at  midnight  on  the  30th  of  June,  that  since  they 
started  on  the  ice,  on  the  2.3th,  they  had  progressed 
northward  only  about  twelve  miles.  All  expectation  of 
reaching  the  Pole  was  now  relinquished,  but  hopes  of 
reaching  the  S.'kl  degree  were  entertained. 

The  party  came  at  length  to  smoother  ice  and  larger 
floes,  and  making  better  progress,  persevered  till  the 
20tli  of  July,  when  they  werj  mortified  to  find  that 
thi'ir  latitude  was  less  than  five  miles  to  the  north- 
ward of  where  it  was  on  the  17th,  although  they  had 
certainly  traveled  twelve  miles  in  that  direction.  Parry 
began  now  to  suspect  that  the  ice  was  floating  south- 


"1 


DRIFTryO   SOUTH. 


259 


ward,  and  that  they  Avere  in  the  condition  of  the  frog 
jumping  out  of  a  well,  which  jumped  three  feet  and 
fell  back  two.  Such  a  suspicion  was  disheartening  to 
the  officers,  hut  was  not  communicated  to  the  men 
who  often  laughingly  remarked,  "  We  are  a  long  time 
getting  to  this  eighty-third  degree." 

On  the  2Gth  they  were  only  one  mile  further  north 
than  they  were  on  the  2 1st,  though  they  had  in  that 
time  traveled  northward  twenty-three  miles ;  thus  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  southern  drift  of  the  ice  was 
at  the  rate  of  over  four  mil&3  per  day.  Pariy  con- 
cluded it  was  useless  to  persevere  in  the  attempt  even 
to  reach  the  83d  parallel,  and  communicated  the  facts 
and  his  intentions  to  the  men.  Great  had  been  their 
exertions,  and  great  was  their  disappointment.  They 
consoled  themselves  however  with  the  l)elief  that  they 
had  gone  further  north  than  any  previous  explorers. 
The  highest  latitude  reached  was  S2°40',  which  is  a 
trifle  farther  north  than  the  Polaris  penetrated  on  her 
late  tri]).  Their  greatest  distance  from  the  Ilecla  was 
only  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  miles,  but  to  ac- 
complish it  they  had  probably  traveled  far  enough  to 
reach  the  Pole,  as  they  had  so  many  times  trebled 
their  track. 

Nothing  remarkable  occurred  on  the  return. 
It  was  no  small  satisfaction  to  the  explorers  to  know 
that  there  would  be  no  backsliding  and  that  every 
mile  of  advance  southward  would  count  two  or  three 
miles.  They  arrived  at  Hecla  Cove  on  the  21st  of 
August,  where  they  were  received,  says  Pany,  "  Avith 
that  warm  and  cordial  welcome  which  can  be  felt 
but  nt)t  described.  Considering  our  constant  exj)os- 
ure  to  wet,  cold  and  fatigue,  our  stockings  having 
been  generally  drenched  in  snow  water  for  twelve 


\wi 


260 


RETURN  TO   EffiCLA   COVE. 


hours  out  of  every  twenty-four,  I  had  great  reason 
to  be  thankful  for  the  excellent  health  in  which  upon 
the  whole  we  reached  the  ship." 

The  Hecla  soon  afterward  sailed  for  England,  and 
thus  ended  the  first  and  only  attempt  that  has  heen 
made  to  penetrate  to  the  Pole  over  the  frozen  surface 
of  the  deep.  All  the  prowess,  energy,  and  hardihood 
of  British  seamen  were  exerted  to  the  utmost  without 
making  even  an  approach  towards  the  fulfillment  of 
their  object.  The  late  Captain  Hall  hoped  to  reach 
the  Pole  by  a  sled  journey  over  the  ice  and  land, 
starting  from  the  highest  point  that  the  Polaris  could 
obtain;  but  thei'e  is  little  doubt  that  if  he  had  lived 
to  make  the  attempt,  it  would  have  proved  an  unsuc- 
cessful if  not  disastrous  one.  The  Pole  is  a  reality, 
and  some  benefit  to  science  would  accrue  from  obser- 
vations taken  thereon ;  but  we  may  as  well  conclude 
that  when  God  gave  man  dominion  over  the  wlu)le 
earth,  that  locality  was  not  incladed  or  was  considered 
unwoi-thy  of  his  presence. 


ARCTIC  E] 


ill 


ii 


III.. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ARCTIC  EXPEDITION   OF  JOHN  AND  JAMES 

C.  ROSS. 

John  Ross,  -whose  Expedition  made  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  British  Admiralty  in  1818  was  sorely 
criticised  by  the  press  and  pronounced  a  failure,  was 
not  content  to  remain  in  inglorious  ease,  but  felt  an 
ambition  so  common  to  adventurers,  to  try  his  fortune 
once  more.  Ross's  faith  in  the  North-west  passage  never 
was  very  great ;  and  the  second  expedition  seems  to 
have  been  undertaken  more  from  a  love  of  adventure 
and  a  desire  to  retrieve  his  good  name,  than  from  any 
well-grounded  hope  of  success  in  its  professed  object. 
The  perseverance  and  energy  displayed  in  carrying  it 
out  were  worthy  of  better  results  tlian  it  actually  ac- 
complished. 

From  his  experience  in  his  first  Arctic  adventure, 
and  from  careful  studj'-of  the  voyages  of  others,  Ross 
became  convinced  that  a  small  steamship  would  make 
better  headway  among  the  floes  and  fields  of  ice  than 
a  sailing  vessel ;  and  accordingly  presented  his  views 
to  the  Admiralty  as  early  as  1827,  asking  government 
aid  for  his  new  project.  This  proposal  was  not  fiivor- 
ably  received,  and  he  then  applied  to  his  friend.  Sir 
Felix  Booth,  a  wealthy  gentleman,  who  listened  kindly 
to  his  statements,  but  finally  decided  not  to  embark 

261 


n 


H 


i;ii 


■I'! 


I  I 


i 


I 
11 

r, 


it  : 


\l 


262 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OF  JOHN   ROSS. 


in  the  enterprise,  lest  it  might  be  construed  by  the 
public  as  a  mere  mercantile  speculation,  in  hopes  of 
securing  the  reward  of  £20,000  offered  by  Parliament 
for  the  discovery  of  the  North-west  passage. 

Not  baffled  by  this  second  rebuff,  Eoss  again  applied 
to  the  Admiralty,  submitting  a  modified,  and  as  he 
thought,  an  improved  plan  of  navigating  the  Arctic 
Seas  by  means  of  steam.  The  decided  answer  of  the 
Admiralty  was : — "  Government  does  not  intend  to 
send  out  any  more  expeditions  on  this  enquiry." 

Soon  after  this  Parliament  revoked  its  offer  of  £20,- 
000,  which  had  tempted  so  many  adventurers  into  the 
Polar  Seas.  This  removed  Booth's  objection  to  aiding 
Ross,  and  he  advanced  the  money  necessary  to  buy 
and  fit  out  the  Victory,  a  steamer  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  tons.     The  whole  cost  was  £17,000. 

With  his  nephew,  James  Clark  Ross,  as  commander,  a 
purser,  surgeon,  and  a  crew  of  seventeen,  Ross  steamed 
down  the  Thames  on  the  23d  of  May,  1829.  The  steam 
fixtures  did  not  prove  to  be  as  efficient  as  lie  expected, 
and  his  main  reliance  for  the  trans-atlantic  voyage  and 
indeed  for  the  whole  expedition,  was  upon  sails. 

On  the  23d  of  July  the  Victory  came  to  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  Holsteinberg,  a  Danish  settlement  on  the 
coast  of  Greenland,  and  was  soon  surrounded  by  ca- 
noes filled  with  Esquimaux,  among  whom  were  two 
whites  clothed  like  the  natives,  who  proved  to  be  Mr. 
Kail,  the  governor,  and  Mr.  Kijer,  a  clergyman,  both 
well  educated  gentlemen  Avho  had  resided  in  the  country 
for  six  years.  At  the  house  of  the  latter  the  onicersof 
the  Victory  were  treated  with  great  kindness,  Mrs.  Kijer 
doing  the  honors  at  the  table,  and  Esquimaux  girls,  neat- 
ly dressed  in  native  costume,  doing  the  service.  The 
settlement  consisted  of  the  governor's  and  clergyman's 


boats,  and  w 


li 


LIFK     AT    HOL8TEINBERG. 


263 


houses,  a  church,  two  store-houses,  and  about  forty  Es- 
quimaux huts.  The  church  was  a  neat  simple  struc- 
ture, surmounted  with  a  small  steeple,  and  having  an 
audience-room  furnished  with  an  organ  and  seats 
for  two  hundred  persons.  Holsteinberg  is  a  roman- 
tic and  interesting  place,  but  the  governor  and 
clergyman  must  have  led  self-denying  lives  in  this 
solitude,  away  from  all  the  social  privileges  of  civili- 
zation. Peace  and  happiness  are  however  of  no  coun- 
try or  situation,  and  here  in  this  narrow  and  appa- 
rently contented  circle  they  seemed  to  exist  in  per- 
fection. No  disorderly  or  immoral  conduct  was 
noticed  among  the  natives ;  and  Mr.  Kijer  represented 
the  Greenlanders  as  so  pacific  in  their  dispositions 
that  quarrels  among  them  were  very  rare. 

As  an  instance  of  their  honesty,  Capt.  Ross  relates 
that  on  the  morning  of  his  departure  from  Holstein- 
berg, a  poor  Esquimaux  came  alongside  of  the  A'ictory, 
bringing  an  oar  which  had  been  loet  from  one  of  the 
boats,  and  adds :  "  I  know  not  how  far  the  exertions 
of  the  worthy  clergyman  deserve  to  share  in  tlie  merit 
of  this  and  the  other  good  conduct  Avhich  we  witnessed, 
but  be  this  as  it  may,  1  do  but  justice  to  the  natural 
character  of  this  race,  almost  everywhere  in  our  experi- 
ence, to  say  that  they  are  among  the  most  wijrthy 
of  all  i\\o  rude  tribes  yet  known  to-  our  voyagers  in 
any  part  of  the  woi'ld." 

The  singing  of  the  Esquimaux  girls  in  church  as- 
tonished and  delighted  the  captain,  and  he  was  assured 
that  they  learned  to  sing  the  most  refined  sacred  mu- 
m  of  the  German  school  with  great  facility,  and  the 
Moravian  missionaries  have  made  music  a  powerful 
auxiliary  in  religious  instruction  and  civilization. 
Some  of  the  Esquimaux  have  not  only  been  taught 

16 


. 


'•if 


i! 

.!  '.i 
"!  f 


I  ■ 


f 


I 


11 


264 


SECOND    EXProiTION    OF    JOHN    ROSS. 


' :  m 


i   •}. 


1  I;  i 


ii 

;,ji 


1       A 


to  sing,  but  to  play,  and  construct  their  own  instru- 
ments. 

On  the  7th  of  August  the  Victory  steamed  into 
Lancaster  Sound.  The  sea  was  covered  with  minute 
marine  animals  and  ducks,  and  gulls  were  in  sight ; 
no  ice  of  any  kind  was  to  be  seen.  Ross  proceeded 
westerly,  till  he  reached  Prince  Regent  Inlet,  into 
which  he  turned  his  ship  and  sailed  southerly  in  search 
of  the  place  where  the  Fury  was  wrecked,  hoping  to 
replenish  his  stock  of  provisions  from  her  stores. 

On  the  13th  of  August  the  Victory  entered  a  bay, 
which  was  christened  Adelaide  in  honor  of  the  Duchess 
of  Clarence,  it  being  her  birth-day.  On  the  afternoon 
of.  the  next  day,  Commander  Ross,  who  had  been  the 
lieutenant  of  the  Fury,  recognized  a  high-projecting 
precipice  u^  being  some  three  miles  from  the  wreck, 
for  which  all  eyes  were  looking ;  and,  an  hour  after- 
ward, the  tents  were  seen  on  the  mound  where  the 
shipwrecked  stores  had  been  deposited.  The  same 
evening  the  » ictory  was  safely  moored  in  an  ice  har- 
bor, within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  coveted  goods. 

The  coast  was  found  almost  lined  with  coal;  and  one 
tent — the  mess-tent  of  the  Fury's  officers — remained 
whole,  though  it  was  evident  the  bears  had  paid  it 
frequent  visits.  A  pocket  near  the  door  of  this  tent, 
in  which  Commander  Ross  had  left  his  memorandum- 
book,  was  missing.  The  preserved  meats  and  vegeta- 
bles were  found  in  good  condition.  The  canisters 
had  been  piled  up  in  two  heaps,  and  though  exposed 
to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  climate  for  four  years, 
they  had  not  suffered  in  the  slightest  degree.  There 
had  been  no  water  to  rust  them,  and  the  security  of 
the  joinings  had  prevented  the  bears  from  smelling 
the  contents.  Had  they  known  the  feast  of  fiit  things 
contained  within  those  shining  tins,  not  much  would 


THE    WRECK    OF    THE    FURY. 


205 


have  remained  for  the  crew  of  the  Victorj^  The  wine, 
sugar,  bread,  flour,  and  cocoa,  were  found  in  equally 
good  condition.  The  lime-juice  and  the  pickles  had 
not  suffered  much,  and  even  the  .salis  were  not  only 
dry,  but  looked  ns  if  they  had  never  been  wet.  Not 
a  trace  of  the  hull  of  the  Fury  was  to  be  found.      '  '■'■ 

The  stores,  not  the  wreck,  were  what  Capt.  Ross 
wanted.  With  great  delight  the  crew  set  about  em- 
barking a  sufficiency  of  stores  to  complete  the  equip- 
ment of  the  Victory  for  over  two  years.  This  fitting 
out  a  vessel  in  an  abandoned  region  of  ice  and  rocks, 
was  a  novel  scene.  Without  money  and  without  price 
the  crow  carried  on  board  the  Victory  canister  after 
canister  of  provisions,  and  yet  all  they  could  store  away 
on  board  seemed  scarcely  to  diminish  the  pile.  Ten 
tc-s  of  coal,  some  anchors,  and  some  carpenter's  stores 
were  also  appropriated.  The  powder  magazine  had 
become  unroofed,  but  the  patent  cases  had  kept  the 
powder  perfectly  dry,  and  with  a  portion  of  this  the 
new  outfit  was  ended. 

Captain  Ross'  plan  was  to  make  a  thorough  survey 
of  Prince  Regent's  Inlet,  and  ascertain  whether  there 
was  any  outlet  from  it  to  the  Polar  Sea ;  ho  therefore 
proceeded  from  Fury  Beach  southward.  The  vo}-auo 
now  began  to  acquire  its  peculiar  interest  as  the  Victory 
was  traversing  a  comparatively  unknown  region.  The 
land  seemed  to  extend  in  a  south-west  direction  con- 
tinuously, and  the  captain  gave  it  the  name  of  Boothia, 
in  honor  of  his  patron.  Many  whales  came  close  to 
the  ship,  thus  proving  that  they  had  never  had  a  taste 
cf  the  harpoon. 

The  geological  structure  was  limestone,  containing 
shells.  Some  sandstone  and  gneiss  were  also  observed, 
and  in  many  of  the  small  bays,  there  were  accumula- 


II 


'll 


iflS    i  H 


266 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OF    JOHN     ROSS. 


^i;fi' 


u 


tions  of  sand.  The  soundings  were  in  clay,  so  touj^h 
as  to  require  great  force  to  extract  the  lead  from  it. 
There  was  no  wood ;  a  heath  with  stems  about  an  inch 
thick,  being  the  largest  plant  growing. 

A  harbor  was  found  sufficiently  deep  and  large  (o 
accommodate  the  whole  British  navy,  and  to  this  was 
given  the  name  of  Elizabeth,  in  compliment  to  a  sis- 
ter of  Mr.  Booth.  In  many  parts  of  it  there  were 
five  fathoms  of  water  close  to  rocks  or  shore,  where 
vessels  might  lie  as  at  a  pier ;  and  from  marks  on  tiie 
rocks  it  was  judged  that  the  spring-tide  rose  eight 
feet.  Near  the  sea  the  land  was  generally  bare,  but 
inland  there  were  plains  and  valleys  of  considerable 
extent  covered  with  vegetation.  In  the  valleys  were 
numerous  lakes,  some  of  them  two  miles  long,  and 
all  well  stocked  with  fish.  As  the  season  advanced 
navigation  became  more  and  more  difficult  and  liaz- 
ardous.  The  Victory  drawing  but  a  few  feet  of  water, 
had  great  advantage  in  navigating  the  Arctic  Seas,  but 
still  her  perils  were  many.  Captain  Ross  thus  graph' 
ically  describes  the  appearance  of  those  seas. 

"  To  those  who  have  not  seen  a  northern  ocean  in 
winter,  the  term  ice,  exciting  but  the  recollection  of 
what  they  know  of  it  at  rest  in  an  inland  lake,  con- 
veys no  idea  of  what  it  is  the  fate  of  the  Arc 
tic  navigator  to  witness.  But  let  them  remember  that 
ice  is  stone,  a  floating  rock  in  a  stream,  a  promontory 
or  an  island  when  aground,  not  less  solid  than  if  it 
were  granite.  Then  let  them  imagine,  if  they  can, 
these  mountains  of  crystal,  hurled  through  a  narrow 
strait  by  a  rapid  tide ;  meeting  as  mountains  would 
meet,  with  the  noise  of  thunder,  breaking  from  each 
other  precipices,  huge  fragments,  or  rending  each 
other  asunder,  till,  losing    their  former  equilibrium, 


FROZEN    IN. 


267 


they  fall  over  headlong,  lifting  the  sea  around  in  break- 
ers, and  whirling  it  in  eddies,  while  the  flatter  fields 
of  ice,  forced  against  these  masses,  ur  against  the 
rocks  by  tlie  wind  and  stream,  rise  out  of  the  sea  till 
they  fall  back  on  themselves,  adding  to  the  indescrib- 
able CMnmotion  and  noise  which  attend  these  occur- 
rences. " 

On  the  last  day  of  September  Captain  Ross  deter- 
mined that  further  progress  was  impossible  for  the 
season,  and  that  his  next  duty  was  to  look  out  for 
winter  quarters.  An  inevitable  detention  among  im- 
movable ico  made  his  men  feel  like  captives  upon 
whom  the  prison  doors  were  being  closed  for  long  and 
weary  months.  Making  an  inland  excursion,  he  as- 
cended a  high  hill  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  sit- 
uation. At  the  south-west  appeared  a  succession  of 
uniform  low  hill,  beyond  which  no  water  was  to  be 
seen.  In  the  interior  he  could  see  even  through  the 
snow,  that  the  plains  were  covered  with  vegetation. 
Many  tracks  of  hares  were  seen,  and  some  of  these  an- 
imals were  shot,  which  were  at  this  early  date  quite 
white,  showing  that  their  change  in  color  is  not  the 
efll'ct  of  temperature,  but  a  prospective  arrangement 
for  meeting  the  cold  of  winter.  There  were  also 
many  Esquimaux  traps  wath  a  great  number  of  cairns 
or  stones,  wliich  at  a  distance  resemble  men,  and  are 
erected  by  the  Esquimaux  for  tiie  purpose  of  fright- 
enini;  the  deer  and  turning  them  within  reach. 

In  the  meantime  the  crew  were  set  to  work  unlad- 
ing the  ship  of  the  steam  engine  and  fixtures  which 
had  proved  an  incumbrance.  Thenceforth  the  Victory 
was  simply  a  sailing  vessel. 

By  October  8th  there  was  not  an  atom  of  water 
to  be   seen    anywhere,  and  excepting  the  protrud- 


1 1  I  i 


'""";i 


1 1 


ti 


I 


,-ii 


'  ■( 


.!  !■ 


n 


208 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OF    JOHN    ROSS. 


ing  point  of  some  dark  rock,  nothing  but  one  du/./.ling 
and  monotonous,  dull  find  wearisoino  extent  of  .snow 
was  visible.  Captain  l^oss  describes  the  eflect  of  this 
uniformity,  silence  and  death  as  paralyzing  to  both 
body  and  mind.  Nothing  moves,  nothing  changes; 
all  is  forever  the  same — cheerless,  cold,  and  silent. 

The  Victory  had  not  made  the  progress  expected 
of  her,  but  she  went  into  winter  quarters  one  hundred 
and  sixty-six  miles  beyond  the  wrecking-ground  of 
the  Fury.  An  examination  of  the  provisions  and 
fuel  gave  the  comforting  assurance  that  there  was 
enough  of  both  to  suppy  all  wants  for  more  than  two 
years ;  and  oflicers  and  crew  settled  down  for  a  long 
winter's  repose. 

The  record  of  the  winter  is  monotonous.  Captain 
Eoss  studied  carefully  the  effects  of  the  cold  upon  him- 
self and  men,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
is  great  difference  in  individuals  as  to  their  power  of 
generating  heat.  A  ruddy,  elastic,  florid,  or  clear 
comi)lexioned  man,  is  seonred  by  nature  against  cold; 
while  the  pale,  sallow,  ami  melancholy-looking,  are  not 
the  men  for  an  Arcik:  voyage. 

The  deck  of  the  Victory  being  covered  with 
snow  to  the  depth  of  two-and-a-half  feet,  it  was  trod 
down  till  it  became  a  solid  mass,  and  was  then  cov- 
ered with  sand,  .so  as  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  solid 
gravel  walk.  Above  this  a  roof  was  built,  and  the 
sides  of  the  vessel  were  banked  with  snow  up  to  the 
roof  so  as  to  form  a  perfect  shelter  from  the  wind  and 
ward  off  much  of  the  extreme  cold.  On  this  deck  the 
men  walked  for  exercise  when  the  cold  was  too  exces- 
sive for  them  to  venture  abroad.  From  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening  till  nine,  the  men  were  required  to 
attend  school,  and  on  Sunday  prayers  were  oflfered 


LIKE    AT    TELIX   IIAllUOIl. 


269 


and  a  sermon  read  ;  the  good  efiects  of  their  educa- 
tional'•ml  religious  duties  were  manifost  in  the  conduct 
of  the  men,  who  seemed  to  feel  that  they  belonged  to 
one  family,  and  evinced  much  mutual  kindness  and 
a  remarkable  propritity  of  deportment.  The  use  of 
spirituous  liquors  was  abandoned,  and  even  the  habit 
of  swearing  was  broken  lip. 

Christmas  was  celebrated  with  a  liberal  dinner,  of 
which  roast  beef  formed  the  essential  and  orthodox 
portion.  The  stores  from  the  Fury  came  into  play 
on  this  day,  as  they  included  mince  ple-i  and  iced 
cherry  brandy.  Flags  were  displayed  from  the  ship 
and  shore,  the  church  service  allotted  for  the  day  read, 
and  one  and  all  enjoyed  the  festival  more  probably 
than  those  whose  lives  of  luiiforni  ease,  peace,  and 
luxury,  render  tliem  insensible  to  hard-won  enjoyment. 
The  thermometer  ranged  from  18  to  22  below  zero. 

January  t)th,  some  Esquimaux  api)earing  on  the 
shore,  the  officers  went  out  to  meet  them  and  found 
them  armed  with  spears  and  knives.  Captain  ]\oss 
hailed  them  with  the  Esquhnaux  salutation,  iima, 
tima,  and  was  answered  by  a  general  shout  of  the 
same  kind,  the  natives  throwing  their  weapons  into 
the  air,  and  extending  their  arms.  An  embrace  on 
the  part  of  Captain  Kosr;,  and  a  stroking  of  the  dress 
of  the  Esquimaux,  the  sign  of  friendship,  established 
unhesitating  confidence,  which  they  manifested  in  the 
great  delight  apparent  on  their  countenances,  and  in 
laughing,  clamor,  and  strange  gestures.  They  were 
all  well  dnissed  in  excellent  deer-skins,  the  \q)per  gar- 
ments double  and  encircling  the  body,  and  extending 
from  the  chin  to  the  middle  of  the  thigh.  Of  the  two 
skins  which  formed  this  double  dress,  the  inner  one 
had  the  hair  next  to  the  body,  and  the  outer  one  in 


I 


270 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OP    JOHN    ROSS. 


1 


a  reverse  direction.  The  trousers  were  also  of  deer 
skin,  reaching  low  on  the  leg,  and  each  had  on  two 
pairs  of  boots,  with  the  hairy  side  of  both  turned  in- 
ward. With  this  immense  superstructure  of  clothing, 
they  looked  much  larger  than  they  really  were,  and 
more  like  Avoodchucks  walking  on  their  hind  legs 
than  men.  Their  cheeks  were  plump,  and  of  as  rosy 
a  color  as  possible  under  so  dark  a  skin.  Their  faces 
were  good-natured,  their  eyes  dark,  nose  small,  and  the 
hair  black  and  cut  short,  and  carefully  arranged. 

Three  of  these  Esquimaux  being  introduced  into 
the  cabin,  were  greatly  delighted  with  some  engrav- 
ings of  their  countrymen,  which  they  instantlv  re- 
cognized as  portraits  of  their  race.  The  sight  of  tiiem- 
selves  in  a  looking-glass  excited  their  greatest  aston- 
ishment. They  did  not  relish  the  preserved  meat,  but 
being  offered  some  oil,  drank  it  with  great  gusto. 
Thus  admirably  are  the  tastes  of  all  men  adapted  to 
the  food  within  their  reach,  and  their  views  of  happi- 
ness to  the  means  provided  for  their  enjoyment.  A 
Hand  thus  spreads  for  HLs  creatures  a  table  in  the  wil- 
derness. 

The  next  day  Captain  Ross  visited  the  village  of 
these  Esquimaux,  about  two-and-a-half  miles  distant, 
which  he  found  to  consist  of  twelve  snow-huts,  having 
the  appearouce  of  inverted  basins.  Ejich  had  a  long 
crooked  appendage,  which  formed  the  entrance,  and 
at  its  mouth  sat  the  women  and  children.  This  pas- 
sage, always  long  and  generally  crookcil,  led  to  the 
principal  apartment.  Opposite  the  doorway  there  was 
a  bank  of  snow  about  two-and-a-half  feet  high,  level 
at  tlie  top,  and  covered  with  skins,  forming  the  gen- 
eral bed,  or  sleeping-place  for  the  whole.  At  the  end 
of  this  snow-couch  sat  the  mistress  of  the  home,  op- 


KING    WILLIAMS    LAND. 


271 


posite  to  (he  lamp,  which  being  of  moss  and  oil,  as  is 
the  universal  custom,  gave  enough  light  and  heat  to 
render  the  apartment  comfortable.  Over  the  lamp 
was  the  cooking-dish  of  stone,  containing  the  flesh  of 
deer  and  seals,  cooking  in  oil.  Dresses,  implements, 
and  provisions  lay  about  in  unspeakable  confusion,  as 
order  is  not  one  of  the  Esquimaux  virtues. 

A  largo  oval  piece  of  clear  ice,  fixed  about  half  way 
up  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  roof,  served  to  admit  e.^:- 
ternal  light  to  their  snow-houses.  In  the  entrance 
passage,  there  was  a  little  ante-chamber, arranged  lor  the 
comfort  of  the  dogs,  and  the  mouth  of  the  entrance 
was  changed  with  each  change  of  wind,  so  as  always 
to  open  to  the  leeward. 

The  females  were  certainly  not  beautiful,  but,  what 
is  better,  were  well  behaved.  All  above  thirteen 
years  of  age  seemed  to  be  married,  and  there  were 
three  or  i'oiir  such  in  every  liouse — apparently  three 
young  wives  in  a  house  where  there  was  one  old  one, 
a  modification  of  Mormouism,  which  Bri,i>ham  Young 
will  do  well  to  consider.  All  were  tattooed  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent, «:  biefly  on  the  brow  and  on  each 
side  of  the  mouth  and  chin. 

In  the  following  spring,  Rnss,  "  the  nephew  of  his 
uncle,"  and  really  the  enterprising  genius  of  the  ex- 
pedition, started  off  on  a  sledge  journey  of  nearly  a 
month,  during  which  he  penetrated  westward  two 
hundred  miles,  and  discovered  King  William's  Sound 
and  King  William's  Land. 

The  Victory  was  held  fast  in  the  ice  for  eleven 
months,  and  t)nly  released  on  the  iTtli  of  September, 
1830.  This  long  iniprisonmcnt  through  the  sununer 
months  was  enough  to  (U.scourage  any  but  Arctic  adven- 
turers.    Their  sledge  journeys  hud  satisfied  them  that 


II    < 


i:  - 


272 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OF    JOHN    ROSS. 


there  was  no  western  passage  from  Regent's  Inlet,  to 
the  south  of  their  position,  and  it  was  with  dehght  that 
they  once  more  found  themselves  free  to  retrace  their 
course  northward.  After  advancing  about  three  miles 
they  encountered  a  field  of  ice,  through  which  thov 
vainly  endeavored  to  saw  their  way.  On  the  30th  <A 
September  there  was  no  water  tc«  be  seen.  On  ap- 
sides lay  snow  and  ice.  They  did  not,  however,  relin- 
quish their  endeavors,  but  spent  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber in  sawing  through  ice  which  Wiis  constantly  in- 
creasing in  thickness.  They  struggled  like  drowning 
men,  but  were  opposed  by  King  Frost,  who  is  a  mighty 
power  in  those  regions. 

Obliged  at  last  to  submit  to  his  sovereignty,  the 
litter  monotony  of  their  situation  pressed  upon  them 
with  increasing  severity,  and  they  were  led  to  envy 
the  Esquimaux,  to  whom  eating  and  sleeping  was  the 
whole  of  life. 

In  the  following  spring  James  Ross  started  off  on  a 
sledge  excursion,  to  ascertain  the  precise  location  of  tlie 
Magnetic  Pole.  In  this  he  was  successful.  In  lati- 
tude 70°  5' 17",  and  longitude  96°  46' 45"  west,  he  found 
the  dip  of  his  needle' to  be  89°  59',  being  thus  within 
one  minute  of  vertical.  On  this  spot  he  erected  a 
cairu  of  soih(>  magnitude,  and  placing  under  it  a  canis- 
ter containing  a  record  of  the  event,  and  over  it  the 
British  flag,  he  formally  took  possession  of  the  North 
Magnetic  Pole  and  its  adjoining  territory  of  Boothia, 
in  the  name  of  Great  Britain  and  King  William  IV. 

This  was  doubtless  an  approximation  to  the  [position 
of  the  Pole,  as  it  then  was,  as  solentKic  nieu  liw]  pre- 
viously fixed  it  in  this  neighborhood,  from  olys  i  xtions 
of  their  compasses  in  various  circumjacent  latitudes; 
but  the  trouble  with  this  pole  is  that  it  does  not  stay 


.# 


COii;-..- 
'''it  x. 


h     '-  1. 


'^^^ 


DISCOVERY    OP    THE    MAGNETIC    POLE. 


273 


fixed,  but  moves  11'  4"  each  year,  and  revolves  around 
the  North  Pole  of  the  earth  once  in  1890  years.  Accord- 
mg  to  this  calculation  it  will  come  around  to  Ross's 
cairn  in  Boothia  again  in  A.  D.  3721. 
I  After  a  second  imprisonment  of  eleven  months,  the 
Victory  was  warped  into  open  sea,  August  27th,  1831, 
but  after  advancing  four  miles  in  one  month,  she  was 
again  ice-bound,  September  27th,  and  another  deso- 
late winter  was  spent  in  Regent's  Inlet — how  desolate 
none  can  tell  who  has  not  suffered  similar  solitude  and 
monotony.  ,.^ 

As  the  experience  of  two  summers  left  them  little 
hope  of  saving  the  ship,  Captain  Ross  and  his  ofhcers 
resolved  to  abandon  the  Victory,  and  travel  over  the 
ice  to  Fury  Beach,  and  thus  avail  themselves  of  the 
bo;its,  which  might  enable  them  to  reach  Davis's 
Sti-i;.7i.  Accordingly,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1832,  the 
CO:        if  the  Victory  were  hoisted  and  nailed  to  the 

,v  .1  the  capUiin  and  crew  took  a  sad  leave  of  her. 

<  the  first  vessel,"  says  Ross,  "that  I  bad  ever 
bt^''«i  bli^^od  to  abandon,  after  having  served  in  thirty- 
six,  dun;  .g  a  period  of  forty-two  years.  It  was  like 
the  last  p.u'ting  with  an  old  friend,  and  I  did  not  pass 
the  point  where  she  ceased  to  be  visible  without  stop- 
ping to  take  a  sketch  of  this  melancholy  desert,  ren- 
dered more  melancholy  by  the  solitary,  abandoned  bel[> 
less  home  of  our  past  years,  fixed  in  immova])le  ice  till 
..'!ne  should  perform  on  her  his  usual  work." 

V'tef  incredible  fatigue  and  hardship,  the  oi-ew 
reached  Fury  Beach  in  the  latter  part  of  Jidy,  wiiere, 
thanks  to  Parry  and  Providence,  they  foiuid  boats  and 
provisions  in  good  condition.  August  1st,  they  em- 
barked in  their  boats  on  an  open  sea,  and  after  much 
bufleting,  many   perils,  and  a  month  of    toil,  they 


ii^Ti 


^  1 1 


If 

n 


ii  I  i 


i 


274 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OF    JOHN    ROSS. 


reached  the  mouth  of  the  inlet.  Here  they  were 
doomed  again  to  a  sad  disappointment,  for  after  several 
fru  Vss  attempts  to  run  along  Barrow's  Straits,  the  ice 
oblij^c  -m  to  haul  their  boats  on  shore  and  pitch 

their  tei  Day  after  day  they  lingered  till  the  third 
week  in  September;  but  the  strait  continuing  one  im- 
penetrable mass  of  ice,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that 
their  only  resource  was  to  fall  back  on  the  stores  at 
Fury  Beach,  and  there  spend  a  fourth  long  winter 
in  the  Arctic  Circle.  TLey  were  only  able  to  proceed 
half  the  distance  in  boats,  and  on  the  24th  of  'Sep- 
tember left  them  behind  on  the  shores  of  Batty  Bay. 

The  rest  of  the  journey  was  performed  on  foot,  the 
provisions  beinof  drawn  in  sledges.  On  the  7th  of 
October  they  reached  the  canvas  hut,  dignified  with 
the  n;une  of  Somerset  House,  which  they  had  erected 
in  July,  on  the  scene  of  the  Fury's  wreck,  to  which 
they  thought  they  had  bid  a  last  farewell. 

Building  a  snow  wall  four  feet  thick  around  their 
canvas  house,  strengthening  the  roof  with  spars  so  that 
it  might  be  covered  with  snow,  and  putting  up  another 
stove,  they  continued  to  make  themselves  comfortable, 
until  the  scurvy  broke  out  among  them  and  several 
of  the  men  fell  victims  thereto.  It  was  indeed  an  anx- 
ious and  doleful  winter,  for,  should  they  be  disap- 
pointed in  their  hopes  of  escaping  the  next  summer, 
their  fiiiling  strength  and  diminishing  stores  loft  them 
little  hope  of  surviving  another  year.  As  tiie  sum- 
mer opened,  they  moved  forward  stores  to  Batty  Bay, 
a  distance  of  thirty-two  miles ;  but  as  their  numbers 
were  now  reduced,  this  land  carriage  taxed  their 
stren'^th  sorely,  and  it  occupied  a  month.  Another 
month  was  passed  at  Batty  Bay,  in  constant  expecta- 
tion of  the  moving  of  the  ice. 


iW 


BESCUED    BY    THE    ISABELLA. 


275 


At  length  on  the  evening  of  August  14th,  the  sight 
of  moving  ice  gladdened  their  hearts ;  on  the  morning 
of  the  15th,  they  slowly  made  their  way  through  the 
masses  of  ice  with  which  the  bay  was  encumbered, 
and  to  their  gre'at  joy  they  found,  on  the  17th,  the  wide 
expanse  of  Barrow's  Strait,  open  to  navigation.  Pushing 
on  with  renewed  hope,  Cape  York  soon  lay  behind 
them,  and  by  alternately  rowing  and  sailing,  they 
rested  on  the  night  of  the  25th  in  a  good  harbor  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  Navy  Board  Inlet.  '    . 

At  four  o'clock  the  following  morning,  they  were 
roused  from  their  slumber  by  the  joyful  announcement 
of  a  ship  in  sight,  and  never  did  men  more  hurriedly 
and  energetically  start  in  pursuit ;  but  the  elements 
were  against  them,  and  the  ship  disappeared  in  the 
distant  haze.  Another  vessel,  however,  was  seen  a 
few  hours  afterward,  lying  in  a  calm,  and  by  hard  row- 
ing they  soon  came  up  with  her ;  strange  to  say,  she 
proved  to  be  the  Isabella,  the  same  vessel  in  which 
Captain  Ross  had  made  his  first  trip  to  the  Arctic  seas, 
now  employed  as  a  whaler. 

The  officers  of  the  Isabella  could  scarcel3'^  credit  the 
story  of  Captain  Ross,  as  he  had  long  been  supposed 
to  be  dead  ;  when  all  doubts  were  removed,  the  rig- 
ging was  instantly  manned  to  do  the  adventurers 
honor,  and  thimdering  cheers  welcomed  Ross  and  his 
gallant  band  on  board.  The  scene  that  followed  can 
not  better  be  described  than  in  Captain  Ross's  own 
words : — 

"  Though  we  had  not  been  supported  by  our  names 
and  characters,  we  should  not  the  less  have  claimed 
from  charity  the  attentions  that  we  received,  for  never 
was  seen  a  more  miserable  set  of  wretches.  Unshaven 
since  I  know  not  when,  dirty,  dressed  in  rags  ef  wild 


III.!: 


276 


SECOND    EXPEDITION    OP    JOHN   ROSS. 


m 


beasts,  and  starved  to  the  very  bones,  our  gaunt  and 
grim  looks,  when  contrasted  with  those  of  the  well- 
dressed  and  well-fed  men  around  us,  made  us  all  feel 
(I  believe  for  the  first  time)  what  we  really  were,  as 
well  as  what  we  seemed  to  others.  But  the  ludicrous 
soon  took  the  place  of  all  other  feelings  ;  in  such  a 
crowd  and  such  confusion,  all  serious  thought  was  im- 
possible, while  the  new  buoyancy  of  our  spirits  made 
us  abundantly  wilHng  to  be  amused  by  the  scene 
which  now  opened. 

"Every  man  was  hungry,  and  was  to  be  fed;  all  were 
ragged,  and  were  to  be  clothed ;  there  was  not  one  to 
whom  washing  was  not  indispensable,  nor  one  whom 
his  beard  did  not  deprive  of  all  human  semblance. 
In  the  midst  of  all,  there  were  interminable  questions 
to  be  asked  and  answered  on  both  sides ;  the  adven- 
tures of  the  Victory,  our  own  escapes,  the  politics  of 
England,  and  the  news  which  was  four  years  old.  But 
all  subsided  into  peace  at  last.  The  sick  were  accom- 
modated, the  seamen  disposed  of,  and  all  was  done  for 
us  which  care  and  kindness  could  perform. 

"  Night  at  length  brought  quiet  and  serious  thoughts, 
and  1  trjList  there  was  not  a  man  among  us  who  did 
not  then  express,  where  it  was  due,  his  gratitude  for 
that  interposition  Avhich  had  raised  us  all  I'rom  des- 
pair which  none  could  now  forget,  and  had  brought 
us  from  the  borders  of  a  most  distant  grave,  to  life, 
and  friends,  and  civilization.  Ijong  accustomed,  how- 
ever, to  a  cold  bed  on  the  hard  snow  or  the  bare  rocks, 
few  could  sleep  amidst  the  comforts  of  our  new  ac- 
commodations. I  was  myself  compelled  to  leave  the 
bed  which  had  been  kindly  assigned  me,  and  take  my 
abode  in  a  chair  for  the  night ;  nor  did  it  fare  much 
better  with  the  rest    It  was  for  time  to  reconc  le  us 


}-M 


RETURN    OF    THE    LOST    EXPLORERS. 


277 


to  the  sudden  and  violent  change,  to  break  through 
what  had  become  habit,  and  to  inure  us  once  more 
to  the  usages  of  former  days." 

The  party  reached  England,  October  15th,  1833, 
after  an  absence  of  four-and-a-half  years.  Having 
long  been  considered  as  lost,  they  were  looked  upon 
as  men  risen  from  the  dead,  and  met  and  escorted 
by  a  crowd  of  sympathizers.  Orders,  medals,  and  hon- 
ors were  showered  upon  John  Ross  by  his  own  country- 
men and  continental  sovereigns,  and  Parliament 
granted  him  ^5,000  as  some  remuneration  for  his  out- 
lays and  hardships.  A  baronetcy  was  conferred  on 
Felix  Booth,  the  patron  of  the  expedition. 

John  Ross  and  James  C.  Ross  subsequently  ap- 
peared again  in  the  Arctic  Seas  as  searchers  for  Frank- 
lin. 


t 


u 


i 
I 


it 


fil 


i; 


:.5 


■■is 


it 


I  t 


I  ! 


CHAPTER  XX. 
GEORGE  BACK'S  EXPEDITIONS. 

CAPTAiif  George  Back  will  be  remembered  as  a 
companion  of  Franklin  on  his  first  land  expedition. 
He  was  in  Italy  at  the  time  when  the  prolonged 
absence  of  the  Rosses  began  to  awaken  fears  for  their 
safety.  Hastening  home,  he  voiun  leered  to  lead  a 
land  expedition  in  search  of  the  lost  explorers,  and, 
accompanied  by  Dr.  King,  left  England  for  New  York 
in  February  1833,  for  that  purpose. 

Back  and  King  left  Montreal  April  25th,  in  two 
canoes  amid  enthusiastic  cheering,  and  as  the  boats 
turned  their  bows  up  the  noble  St.  Lawrence,  one 
loud  huzza  bade  the  travelers  farewell.  The  route 
lay  up  the  Ottawa.  Paul,  an  old  Iroquois  guide 
who  knew  every  rock  in  the  whole  line  of  rajnds 
between  Montreal  and  Hudson's  Bay,  Avas  the  pilot. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  the  travelers  arrived  at  Nor- 
way House,  where  they  halted  to  enlist  volunteers 
to  guide  and  accompany  them.  The  experts  in 
wilderness  life  were  reluctant  at  first  to  engage  in  the 
enterprise,  but  James  McKay,  a  powerful  High- 
lander and  one  of  the  best  steersmen  in  the  country, 
having  consented  to  enlist,  there  was  no  further 
trouble  in  securing  men.  Among  other  applicants 
two  Canadians,  old  acquaintances  of  Back's,  came 
nearly  breathless  with  haste,  and  were  enlisted. 

278 


V  ,i ! 


,*     i 


WOMAN  8   BIGHTS   AT  NORWAY   HOUSE. 


279 


But,  "  there  is  many  a  slip  between  the  cup  and  the 
lip."  These  Canadians  had  wives,  and  these  wives 
thought  they  had  rights,  as  surely  they  had.  The 
different  conduct  of  these  women  illustrates  the  two 
great  methods  by  which  the  gentle  sex  enforce 
their  rights.  One,  a  good  strapping  dame,  cuffed  her 
husband's  ears  with  such  dexterity  and  good  will, 
that  he  was  fain  to  cvy  peccavi  and  seek  shelter  in  a 
friendly  tent ;  the  other,  an  interesting  girl  of  seven- 
teen, burst  into  tears,  and  with  piteous  sobs  clung  to 
the  husband  of  her  love,  as  if  she  would  hold  him 
prisoner  in  her  arms.  The  result  proved  that  each 
method  was  equally  effectual,  for  Back  lost  the  ser- 
vices of  the  men. 

Leaving  Norway  House  on  the  28th  of  June,  and 
proceeding  by  the  usual  route.  Back  approached 
Cumberland  House  on  the  5  th  of  July.  The  crew 
dressed  themselves  out  in  all  their  finery — silver  bands 
tassels,  plumes  and  feathers,  intending  to  approach  the 
station  with  some  military  effect ;  but  unfortunately 
for  the  poor  fellows,  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  their 
feathers  drooped,  and  to  complete  their  discomfitui'e 
they  were  obliged  to  walk  in  their  crestfallen  condi- 
tion for  a  mile  in  the  mud  before  reaching  the  station. 

Tlie  boats,  stores,  etc.,  were  all  in  readiness  for  a 
start,  and  Capt.  Back  had  the  satisfaction  of  getting 
his  two  batteaux  under  way  on  the  0th  of  July. 
Each  was  laden  with  a  cargo  weighing  over  two 
tons,  exclusive  of  men,  bedding,  and  clothes.  Yet 
with  such  steersmen  as  McKay  and  Sinclair,  no 
apprehension  was  felt  for  their  safety. 

Back  lingered  behind  a  day  or  two,  and  then 
advanced  in  his  canoe  with  eight  attendants  under 
the  pilotage  of  his  skillful  guide,  De  Charloit,  a  half- 

17 


280 


THE   BA'ITEAUX   AND   CANOES. 


breed,  and  soon  overtook  Dr.  King  with  the  large  boats. 
The  contrast  between  the  rapidity  of  motion  of  the 
two  parties  was  striking.  The  water  M-as  veiy  low, 
and  the  cumbrous  batteaux  Avere  dragged  in  some 
places  laboriously  a  few  paces  at  a  time  by  the  united 
exertions  of  those  on  board  and  those  on  shore. 
Sometimes  unable  to  resist  the  force  of  the  inpetuoua 
current  they  weie  swept  back;  at  others,  suspended 
on  the  arched  back  of  a  wave,  they  stiuggled  and 
labored  until  they  were  again  in  the  shelter  of  some 
friendly  eddy.  But  the  canoe,  frail  as  she  Avas,  was 
threaded  through  the  boiling  rapids  and  sunken  rocks 
with  fearful  elegance. 

On  the  21st  of  July,  the  party  reached  Portage  la 
Loche,  the  high  ridge  of  land  which  divides  the 
waters  running  into  Hudson's  Bay  from  those  Avliich 
direct  their  course  to  the  Arctic  Sea.  Here  a  beauti- 
ful and  picturesque  view  opened  to  their  sight.  A 
thousand  feet  below,  the  sylvan  landscape  lay  spread 
out  in  all  the  wild  luxuriance  of  its  summer  clothing. 
Even  the  most  jaded  of  the  party  seemed  to  forget 
his  weariness,  and  halted  involuntarily  to  gaze  with 
admiration  on  a  spectacle  so  magnificent. 

On  the  8th  of  August  they  reached  Great  Slave 
Lake  and  were  welcomed  at  Fort  Resolution.  The 
remainder  of  the  month  was  spent  by  Back  in  explor- 
ing this  lake  and  searching  for  Great  Fish  River, 
called  by  the  Indians  Thlew-ee-choh,  and  now  named 
in  honor  of  our  explorer,  who  was  the  first  to  descend 
it,  Back's  River. 

Many  encampments  of  Indians  were  passed,  whose 
occupants  were  employed  in  drying  the  flesh  of 
moose  recently  killed.  The  hunters  were  lying  at 
full  length  on  the  grass,  whiffing  the  cherished  pipe, 


India:!  bUUMJOt  ENCAMrMKNT. 


MlKJSK    UlNTiyu  — VI  KdN    lllVKH. 


P     1 


I   I 


w 


i 


^1  '.     ' 


y 


I'  '  \ 


11  A' 


\m 


or  lounging 
a  lich  marr 
labors.  Wo 
wliich  were 
screaming  i 
louder  sere 
of  their  clii 
were  half  f 
plete  the  s 
ing  themse 
canoes  like 
was  at  the 
care,  enjoy i 
and  capacit 
than  this  ? 

On  the  2 
tributaries  ( 
that  pleasir 
bound  of  th 
ging,  he  thr( 
bearty  drai 
returned  to 
Lake  where 

As  winte; 
the  vicinity 
"with  herg 
turn,  and  st 
the  snow, 
children,  wl 
peculiarly  di 
may  or  may 
in  steel  whi 
food." 

Back's  j)i 


INDIAN    SUMMER    ENCAMPMENTS. 


281 


or  lounging  on  their  elbows  i "  watch  the  frizzling  of 
a  rich  marrow  bone,  the  customary  perquisite  of  their 
labors.  Women  were  lighting  or  tending  the  fires,  over 
which  were  suspended  rows  of  thinly  sliced  meat,  some 
screaming  to  thievish  dogs,  and  others  with  still 
louder  screams,  endeavoring  to  drown  the  shrill  cries 
of  their  children,  who,  swaddled  and  unable  to  stir, 
were  half  suffocated  with  the  smoke ;  while  to  com- 
plete the  scene,  eight  or  ten  boys  at  play,  were  aim- 
ing themselves  over  and  under  some  white  bark 
canoes  like  so  many  land  dolphins.  Their  hapi)iness 
was  at  the  full ;  at  that  moment  they  were  without 
care,  enjoying  themselves  according  to  their  nature 
and  capacity.  Is  human  happiness  ever  much  more 
than  this  ? 

On  the  29th  of  August,  Back  reached  one  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  Great  Fish  River,  and  yielding  to 
that  pleasing  emotion  which  discoverers,  in  the  first 
bound  of  their  transport,  may  be  pardoned  for  indul- 
ging, he  threw  himself  down  on  the  bank  and  drank  a 
hearty  draught  of  the  limpid  water.  He  then 
returned  to  winter-quarters  at  Fort  Reliauce  on  Slave 
Lake  where  a  house  was  erected. 

As  winter  came  on  the  sufferings  of  the  Indians  in 
the  vicinity  were  extreme.  "  Famine,"  says  Back, 
"with  her  gaunt  and  bony  arm  pursued  them  at  every 
turn,  and  strewed  them  lifeless  on  the  cold  bosom  of 
the  snow.  Often  did  I  share  my  own  plate  with  the 
children,  whose  helpless  state  and  piteous  cries  were 
peculiarly  distressing.  Compassion  for  the  full-grown 
may  or  may  not  be  felt,  but  that  heart  must  be  cased 
in  steel  which  is  insensible  to  the  cry  of  a  child  for 
food." 

Back's  party  shared  in  the  general  distress   and 


.  y 


'W 


if 


'n 


r 


,  1 1, 


^!    1 


i'. 


282 


"llAISING   THE   DEVIL." 


could  bestow  but  little  on  the  wretched  sufferers, 
who  began  to  imagine  that  the  instruments  in  the 
observatory  kept  the  deer  at-  a  distance  and  caused 
their  sufferings.  Even  the  voyageurs  were  superstitous- 
ly  impressed,  and  on  one  occasion  two  of  them  listened 
by  the  fence  built  around  the  observatory,  and  hear- 
ing at  intervals  the  words  "  now  "  and  "  stop/'  always 
succeeded  by  silence,  they  turned  hastily  away  and 
reported  to  their  companions  that  they  verily  believed 
the  captain  was  ''  raising  the  devil." 

In  November,  the  chief  Akaitcho,  the  old  acquaint- 
ance of  Franklin,  arrived  very  opportunely  with  some 
meat  which  was  of  great  benefit  to  all.  When  he 
went  away  he  took  some  of  the  starving  Indians  with 
him,  and  promised  Back  that  he  should  not  want  as 
long  as  he  had  anything  to  send  to  the  fort.  And  he 
kept  his  word,  and  during  a  most  apalling  period  of 
suffering  and  calamity  proved  himself  the  firm  friend 
of  the  expedition ;  the  dawn  of  each  morning  saw 
liim  prepared  for  the  hunt,  and  he  boldly  encountered 
every  difficulty  and  made  others  act  by  the  force  of 
his  example. 

In  describing  the  scenes  of  this  winter  Back  says :— 
— "No  sooner  had  one  party  closed  the  door  than 
another  feeldy  opened  it,  and  confirmed  by  their  half- 
famished  looks  and  sunken  eyes  their  heart-rending 
tale  of  sufferings.  They  spoke  little,  but  crowded  in 
silence  around  the  fire,  as  if  eager  to  enjoy  the  only 
comfort  remaining  to  them,  A  handful  of  mouldy 
pounded  meat  which  had  been  intended  for  the  dogs 
was  all  we  could  give  them  ;  and  this,  with  the  cus- 
tomary presentation  of  the  friendly  pipe,  was  suffi- 
cient to  efface  for  a  moment  the  recollection  of  tlieir 
sorrows,  and  even  light  up  their  faces  with  a  smile 
of  hope." 


i 


GAD   FATE   OF   AUGUSTUS. 


283 


In  March  information  came  that  Augustus,  the 
Esquimaux  interpi-eter  and  Back's  old  friend,  hear- 
ing that  he  was  in  the  country  had  set  out  to  join 
him,  and  walked  from  Hudson's  Bay  to  Fort  Resolu- 
tion for  that  purpose.  From  this  place  he  started 
with  a  Canadian  and  Iroquois,  who  were  taking 
dispatches  to  Back ;  but  they  all  lost  their  way,  and 
the  couriers  returned  to  the  fort  without  Augustus, 
who  had  persisted  in  going  on  alone.  In  June  the 
remains  of  the  brave  Esquimaux  were  found  near  the 
Riviere  a  Jean.  "  Such,"  says  Back,  "  was  the  misera- 
ble end  of  poor  Augustus  ! — a  faithful,  disinterested, 
kind-hearted  creature,  who  had  won  the  regard  not 
of  myself  only,  but  I  may  add  of  Sir  John  Frank- 
lin and  Dr.  Richardson  also,  by  qualities,  which, 
wherever  found,  in  the  lowest  as  in  the  highest  forms 
of  social  life,  are  the  ornament  and  charm  of  human- 
ity." 

On  the  25th  of  April  1834,  a  messenger  arrived 
with  the  glad  tidings  of  the  safe  return  of  Ross  and 
his  party  to  England.  Back,  however,  thought  it  his 
duty  to  explore  Fish  River,  and  on  the  7th  of  June 
left  Fort  Reliance  for  this  purpose,  Thoucl;  no 
longer  stimulated  with  the  desire  to  render  iid  and 
comfort  to  Ross,  he  was  heartily  glad  to  get  away 
from  scenes  of  suffering  and  death,  and  launch  out 
again  into  stirring  adventure. 

In  descending  the  Fish  River,  eighty  or  ninety 
miles  of  the  distance  Avas  a  succession  of  fulls  and 
rapids,  keeping  the  men  in  a  constant  state  of  exertion 
and  anxiety.  Cataracts,  too,  obstructed  their  passage. 
In  passing  down  one  of  these,  where  the  river  was 
full  of  rocks  and  boulders,  the  boat  was  obliged  to 
be  lightened. 


■¥: 


Hi 


V 


284 


RUNNING  THE   RAPIDS. 


ill 


?■    '\ 


"I  stood,"  says  Back,  "on  a  higli  rock,  with  an 
anxious  heart,  to  see  her  run  it.  Away  they  went 
with  the  speed  of  an  arrow,  and  in  a  moment  the 
foam  and  rocks  hid  them  from  my  view.  I  heard 
what  sounded  in  my  ear  like  a  wild  shriek ;  I  followed 
with  an  agitation  which  may  be  conceived,  and,  to 
my  inexpressible  joy,  found  that  the  shriek  was  the 
triumphant  whoop  of  the  crew,  who  had  landed 
safely  in  a  small  bay  below." 

Near  the  close  of  July,  Back  approached  the  mouth 
of  the  Fish  Riv^er  and  discovered  a  majestic  headland 
which  he  named  Victoria.  He  thus  sums  up  a  gen- 
eral view  of  the  tempestuous  stream  which  he  had 
successfully  descended : — 

"  This,  then,  may  be  considered  as  the  mouth  of 
the  Thlew-ee-choh,  which,  after  a  violent  and  tortuous 
course  of  five  hundred  and  thirty  geographical  miles, 
running  through  an  iron-ri))T)ed  countr}-,  without  a  sin- 
gle tree  on  the  whole  line  of  its  banks,  expanding  into 
fine  large  lakes  with  clear  horizons,  most  embarrass- 
ing to  the  navigator,  and  broken  into  falls,  cascades, 
and  rapids  to  the  number  of  no  less  than  eighty- 
three  in  the  whole,  pours  its  waters  into  the  Polar 
Sea  in  latitude  07^11'  N.,  and  longitude  'W  30^  W." 

Drift-ice  was  here  encountered,  and  further  prog- 
ress was  slow,  but  on  the  7th  of  Aiigust  the  party 
reached  Point  Ogle,  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
land  on  the  western  side  at  the  mouth  of  the  estuary. 
From  this  }K)int  portions  of  the  coast  of  Boothia  were 
seen  to  the  northward.  Further  explorations  by 
water  were  imj)ossible,  but  a  party  ])roeeeded  westerly 
along  the  coast  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  for  about  fifteen 
miles,  in  the  direction  of  Cape  Turn-again. 

The  country  was  low,  level  and  desolate  and  pro- 


A   DESOLATE   EEGION. 


285 


duced  nothing  but  moss  and  fern,  which  was  so  wet 
that  it  would  not  burn.  The  weather  was  chilly, 
damp  and  foggy,  and  the  situation  of  the  explorery 
grew  cheerless  and  miserable.  Surrounded  on  every 
side  by  complete  desolation,  without  fire  or  any  kind 
of  warm  food,  wnth  heavy  rains  followed  by  thick 
snows,  "  it  cunnot "  says  Back,  "  be  a  matter  of  aston- 
ishment, and  much  less  of  blame,  that  even  the  best 
men,  benumbed  in  their  limbs,  and  dispirited  by  the 
dreary  and  unpromising  prospect  before  them,  broke 
out  for  a  moment  into  low  murmuriugs  that  theirs' 
was  a  hard  and  painful  duty."       .■    .  ,    . 

Back  had  now  no  choice  but  to  start  on  the  return 
journey,  which  was  commenced  the  middle  of  August. 
Before  setting  out,  the  British  flag  was  un  l^^d,  and 
saluted  with  three  cheei-s  "  in  honor  of  his  iii  >^f  u^ra- 
cious  majesty,"  and  the  name  of  William  the  Fourth's 
Land  was  given  to  this  part  of  America. 

The  many  difficulties  which  had  been  experienced 
in  going  down  the  river  were  at  least  doubled  in 
returning,  but  the  explorers  reached  Fort  Reliance  in 
safety  on  the  27th  of  September.  Preparations  were 
inmiediately  made  for  spending  another  winter  in 
this  dreary  place.  Hunting  and  fishing  were  the 
order  of  the  day,  and  wood  was  collected  to  keep  off 
the  cold,  which  proved  to  be  less  severe  than  usual. 

About  the  last  of  May  they  gladly  bade  adieu  to 
the  inliospitable  region,  and  reached  Norway  House 
on  the  24th  of  June.  Back  returned  home  by  way 
of  Montreal  and  New  York,  and  received  many  kind 
attentions  during  his  journey  through  the  United 
States.  lie  reached  England  in  September,  after  an 
absence  of  over  two  and  a  half  years,  and  was  there 
honored  by  an  audience  with  the  king. 


(1 


T' 


Mi 


\l 


w 


'  1 


I 


i! 


I"    1 


'       I' 


I 


W: 


*i  .-5 


\:^m 


286 


VOYAGE  IN  THE 


"  TERROR." 


Soon  afterwards,  the  English  admiralty  decided  to 
send  out  an  expedition  to  complete  the  survey  of 
the  coast  between  Regent's  Inlet  and  Point  Turn- 
again,  and  for  this  purpose  Captain  Back  sailed  from 
England  in  the  "Terror,"  with  a  crew  of  seventy- 
three  men.  Near  the  Savage  Islands  they  encountered 
a  fleet  of  kayaks  and  oomiaks,  and  were  hailed  by 
their  occupants  with  vociferous  cries  of  teyma.  Back 
says  that  the  conduct  of  the  women  was  particularly 
outrageous ;  besides  disposing  of  their  garments  they 
offered  to  barter  their  children,  and  one  of  them 
noticing  that  an  officer  had  but  little  hair  on  his 
head,  offered  to  supply  him  with  her  own. 

Early  in  September,  when  near  the  entrance  of 
Frozen  Strait,  the  Terror  was  seized  by  the  ice  as 
with  the  grasp  of  a  giant,  and  during  the  whole  of 
that  month  was  whirled  backward  and  forward  just 
as  the  wind  or  tide  directed.  "  It  was,"  says  Back, 
"  a  month  of  vexation,  disappointment,  and  anxiety, 
to  me  more  distressing  and  intolerable  than  the 
worst  pressure  of  the  worst  evils  which  had  befallen 
me  in  any  other  expedition." 

It  was  soon  evident  that  there  could  T)e  no  escape 
for  several  months,  and  that  nothing  could  be  done 
but  to  make  the  situation  as  comfortable  as  possible. 
Snow  walls  and  galleries  were  built  on  the  floes;  and 
towards  spi'ing,  for  amusement,  some  of  the  men  cut 
figures  of  houses,  forts,  vessels,  and  men  and  women, 
from  blocks  of  snow.  Most  of  the  crew  could  read, 
some  could  recite  long  passages  of  prose  and  poetry, 
others  could  sing ;  and  by  bringing  out  the  talents 
of  each  for  the  common  benefit,  the  whole  "were  made 
at  times  comparatively  happy. 

Thus  di'ifting  about  and  at  times  undergoing  terrif 


II 


VOYAGE   IN  THE   "TERROR." 


287 


ic  nips,  the  Terror  remained  fast  in  the  ice  till  the 
11th  of  Jcly,  when,  after  several  clays  spent  by 
the  crew  in  attempting  to  cut  her  free,  a  loud  rum- 
bling noise  was  heard,  and  the  ship  broke  her  ice- 
bonds  and  slid  gently  into  her  own  element ;  but  so 
much  of  the  base  of  her  ice  cradle  still  clung  to  her, 
that  she  remained  on  her  beam  ends  for  three  days 
after. 

Nothing  now  remained  but  to  get  home  as  soon 
as  possible  with  the  crazy,  broken  and  leaky  Terror, 
and  the  voyage  thither  was  as  perilous  as  her  encoun- 
ters with  the  ice  had  been.  On  reaching  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  the  ship  was  run  ashore  in  a  sinking  con- 
dition, and  could  hardly  have  floated  a  day  longer. 
She  was  afterwards  refitted,  and  with  her  and  the 
Erebus,  James  C.  Ross  made  his  explorations  in  the 
Southern  Seas.  Subsequently,  Franklin  and  his  lost 
expedition  sailed  in  the  same  famous  ships. 

The  ice-drift  experiences  of  the  Terror  much  resem- 
ble those  of  the  Advance  and  Rescue  while  searching 
for  Franklin — a  full  history  whereof  is  given  in  Dr. 
Kane's  narrative  of  the  First  American  Expedition. 


'  fil! 


I 


I 


,'iii 


!    !i 


V 


I. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

LAND  EXPEDITIONS  OF  DBASE  AND  SIMP- 
SON,  AND  RAE. 

As  a  considerable  extent  of  the  northern  coast  of 
America  still  remained  imexplored,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  determined,  in  1836,  to  equip  an  expedi- 
tion of  tAvelve  men  under  the  lead  of  two  of  its  own 
officers—  i*eter  W.  Dease  and  Thomas  Simpson.  The 
latter  was  a  young  and  well-educated  Scotchman 
who  had  resided  in  the  territory  since  1829 ;  he  Avas 
full  of  zeal  for  scientific  discovery,  and  the  astronomer 
and  historian  of  the  expedition. 

Before  setting  out,  Mr.  Simpson  spent  several 
months  at  the  Red  River  Settlement,  situated  near 
the  50th  parallel  at  an  elevation  of  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  sea,  w'hich  then  stretched  for 
upwards  of  fifty  miles  along  the  Avooded  borders  of 
the  Red  and  Assinoboine  Rivers  which  flow  through 
a  level  country  of  vast  extent.  There  was  no  specu- 
lative motive  to  induce  him  to  color  his  picture  of 
this  region,  and  he  may  the  more  readily  be  relied 
on  when  he  states,  that  the  climate  is  salubrious,  the 
soil  good,  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry  numerous ; 
and  that  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  potatoes  thrive  well  in 
the  vast  Red  River  Valley.     This  testimony  shouM 

288 


i,,ri 


*M|    'I 


t 


remove  tlie 
recent  trav 
give  glovvi 
consideratic 

Mr.  Simj 
ber  for  his 
dred  and  s( 
starting  poi 
three  sledg< 
as  drivers, 
lay  over  tli 
quently  th< 
moose-deer 
80  deep  t] 
travelers, 
his  compan 

The  trav 
on  the  1st 
Slave  Lak( 
at  finding 
till  the  21s 
with   hnnt 
mirasje  of  t 
Indians,     j 
which  the 
sport,  and 
being  the 
without  th 
midnight,  i 
to  exertion 

Fort  Nc 
on  the  1st 
at  the  moil 
joyous  ch( 


11 


A  WINTER  S   JOURNEY. 


289 


remove  the  suspicions  which  some  have,  that  more 
recent  travelers  in  this  section  have  been  induced  to 
give  glowing  descriptions  thereof  from  mercenary- 
considerations.  •    .  '  •       •    ' 

Mr.  Simpson  left  this  colony  on  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber for  his  winter  journey  of  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  miles  to  Fort  Chipewyan,  the 
starting  point  of  the  expedition.  A  gay  cariole  and 
three  sledges  drawn  by  dogs,  with  three  picked  men 
as  drivers,  made  up  the  retinue.  Much  of  the  route 
lay  over  the  frozen  channels  of  the  streams,  and  fre- 
quently the  tinklings  of  the  dog-bells  roused  the 
moose-deer  from  their  lairs.  At  times  the  snow  was 
so  deep  that  snow-shoes  had  to  be  worn  by  the 
travelers.  Fort  Chipewyan,  where  Mr.  Dease  awaited 
his  companion,  was  reached  on  the  fii'st  of  February. 

The  travelei's  took  their  departure  from  this  place 
on  the  1st  of  June  1837,  and  on  reaching  Great 
Slave  Lake,  ten  days  afterwards,  were  disappointed 
at  finding  it  covered  with  ice  which  detained  them 
till  the  21st  of  June — ^a  delay  which  they  beguiled 
with  hunting,  and  with  observing  the  wonderful 
mirage  of  tliis  region  and  the  games  and  sports  of  the 
Indians.  A  dance  was  also  given  to  the  men  in 
which  the  Indian  women  joined.  It  furnished  much 
sport,  and  was  concluded  with  a  genei'ous  supper,  tea 
being  the  only  beverage.  The  games  of  the  people 
without  the  fort  were  generally  at  their  height  at 
midnight,  when  the  coolness  of  the  atmosphere  incited 
to  exertion. 

Fort  Norman  on  the  Mackenzie  River  was  reached 
on  the  1st  of  July,  and  on  the  9th,  the  Arctic  Ocean 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  was  seen,  and  saluted  with 
joyous  cheers.    As  the  season  was  favorable,  the 


in  li 


if 


iil 


290 


ON  THE  COASTS  OF  ALASKA. 


r' 


m 


\l''4 


explorers  proceeded  westerly  along  the  coast,  and  on 
the  23d  of  July  arrived  at  Return  Reef,  where  Frank- 
lin had  been  stopped.  Beyond  this  was  unexplored 
territory.  Pushing  on,  they  discovered  the  mouth  of 
a  river  and  named  it  the  Colville.  They  supposed  it 
to  be  a  large  one,  for  it  freshened  tlie  waters  of 
the  ocean  to  a  distance  of  three  leagues.  Their 
conclusions  were  right,  for  the  Colville  Rivei*,  now  in 
the  United  States  territory  of  Alaska,  has  since  been 
ascertained  to  be  a  thousand  miles  long. 

They  also  discovered  another  noble  river,  the  Garry, 
whose  mouth  was  a  mile  in  width.  Though  the 
ground  was  frozen  four  inches  deep,  a  few  flowers 
cheered  the  eye  of  the  travelers.  On  the  Ist  of 
August  the  party  had  arrived  within  two  degrees  of 
Point  Barrow,  the  most  eastern  point  reached  by  the 
barge  of  the  Blossom.  As  further  progress  was 
here  prevented  by  the  ice,  Simpson  with  five  com- 
panions  pushed  on  afoot,  and  on  the  4th  had  the 
great  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  long,  low  spit  of  land 
called  Point  Barrow  stretching  to  the  northward. 
On  reaching  it,  they  unfurled  the  British  flag  with 
three  cheei-s  and  took  possession  of  this  gravelly  cape 
in  the  name  of  their  king.  The  last  portion  of  the 
journey  to  Point  Barrow  had  been  made  in  an 
oomiak  which  was  borrowed  of  a  party  of  Esquimaux 
met  on  the  way.  The  landing  at  Point  Barrow  was 
made  at  a  place  half  way  between  a  winter  village 
and  summer  camp  of  the  natives,  and  in  the  vicinity 
was  an  immense  cemetery,  where  the  remnants  of 
humanity  lay  on  the  ground  in  the  usual  seal-skin 
clothing.  The  natives  were  generally  friendly,  but 
thievish. 

Having  reached  the  limit  of  their  explorations  in 


DOWN    ESCAPE   nAPID. 


291 


this  direction,  the  whole  party  returned  to  winter- 
quarters  at  Great  Bear  Lake.  In  the  summer  of  1838 
they  again  commenced  their  travels,  and  on  the  25th 
of  June  were  nearing  the  mouth  of  the  Cop]ieiTnine. 
Franklin  had  descended  the  lower  part  of  this  river 
when  it  had  fallen  to  its  summer  level,  hut  Dease  and 
Simpson  were  swept  down  it  by  the  spring  flood,  in 
which  floated  cakes  of  ice,  while  the  banks  were  piled 
up  with  pondrous  fragments.  Mr.  Simpson  thus 
descnbes  some  of  the  perils  of  the  passage  : — 

"  The  day  was  bright  and  lovely  as  we  shot  down 
rapid  after  rapid,  in  many  of  which  we  had  to  pull 
for  our  lives,  to  keep  out  of  the  suction  of  the  preci- 
pices, along  whose  base  the  breakers  raged  and  foamed 
with  overwhelming  fury.  Shortly  before  noon  we 
came  in  sight  of  Escape  Rapid  of  Franklin,  and  a 
glance  at  the  overhanging  cliffs  told  us  that  there 
was  no  alternative  but  to  run  down  with  a  full  cargo. 
In  an  instant  we  were  in  the  vortex,  and,  before  we 
were  aware,  my  boat  was  borne  towards  an  isolated 
rock,  which  the  boiling  su i-ge  almost  concealed.  To 
clear  it  on  the  outside  was  no  longer  possible.  Our 
only  chance  of  safety  was  to  nin  between  it  and  the 
lofty  eastern  cliflf.  The  word  was  passed,  and  every 
breath  was  hushed.  A  stream,  which  dashed  down 
upon  us  over  the  brow  of  the  precipice,  more  than  a 
hundred  feet  in  height,  mingled  with  the  spray  that 
whirled  upward  from  the  rapid,  fonning  a  terrific 
shower-bath.  The  pass  was  about  eight  feet  wide, 
and  the  error  of  a  single  foot  on  either  side  would 
liave  been  instant  destruction.  As,  guided  by  Sin- 
clair's consummate  skill,  the  boat  shot  safely  through 
those  jaws  of  death,  an  involuntary  cheer  arose." 

On  the  Ist  of  July  the  party  reached  the  sea,  and 


li 


i:        ! 


W.  ' 


m\i 


292 


WINTER-QUABTEBS   ON   GREAT  BEAR   LAKE. 


m 


>'i^ 


on  tlie  17tli  they  started  to  coast  along  Its  slioros  to 
the  eastward.  On  arriving,  about  the  10th  of  August, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Point  Turn-again  the  Ijoats  were 
arrested  by  ice.  On  the  2()th,  Simpson  a\  ith  seven 
men  started  on  a  walk  along  the  coast.  On  the  23d 
they  came  to  an  elevated  rocky  ridge  which  was 
named  Cape  Alexander.  On  ascending  it,  a  vast  and 
splendid  pr(>spect  burst  suddenly  upon  the  travelers. 
The  sea,  as  if  transformed  by  enchantment,  rolled  its 
free  waves  at  their  feet,  and  extended  to  the  eastward 
as  far  as  could  be  seen.  Islands  of  various  sha])es  and 
sizes  overspread  its  surface ;  and  the  northern  land 
terminated  to  the  eye  in  a  bold  and  lofty  cape  thirty 
or  forty  miles  distant.  On  the  extensive  land  to  the 
northward,  Simpson  bestowed  the  name  of  Victoria, 
and  he  called  its  eastern  extremity  Cape  Pelly. 

After  surveying  nearly  one  hundred  and  fc^rty  miles 
of  new  coast  easterly  of  Point  Turn-again,  the  foot 
party  returned  to  the  boats.  Early  in  September  tlie 
return  journey  up  the  Coppermine  was  commenced, 
and  on  the  14th  of  that  month  Fort  Confidence,  the 
old  winter-quarters  on  Great  Bear  Lake,  was  safely 
reached. 

Here  the  winter  of  1838-0  was  passed  by  the 
explorers,  and  in  June  1839,  undaunted  by  the  dan- 
gers and  privations  of  the  previous  season,  they  again 
started  on  their  third  successive  visit  to  the  Arctic 
Sea.  i    . 

On  the  3d  of  July  their  boats  emernred  from  the 
Coppcnnine,  and  sailing  eastward  the  party  encamped 
on  the  26th  at  Cape  Alexandei-.  Continuing  their 
voyage,  they  discovered,  on  the  10th  of  August,  a 
strait  three  miles  wide  through  which  they  passed. 
Three  days  afterward,  they  were  delighted  at  reaching 
Cape  Ogle  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Fish  River. 


Ti^n 


KETURN   TO   RED  RIVER   SETTLEMENT. 


293 


All  the  olg'ects  for  which  the  expedition  was  fitted 
out  had  now  been  accomjuished.  The  noithei ii  limits 
of  America  to  the  westward  of  the  Great  Fish  or 
Back's  lli\  er  had  been  surveyed,  but  it  still  remained 
a  questiou  whether  Boothia  might  not  he  tinited  to 
the  continent  on  the  other  side  of  the  estuary.  So 
the  jmrty  pushed  on  to  a  point  distant  about  two 
degrees  from  Point  Ogle,  where  they  came  to  the 
mouth  of  a  river,  which  they  named  the  Castor  and 
Pollux  after  their  two  boats.  This  river  was  the 
limit  of  their  eastern  explorations. 

In  returning  to  the  Coppermine  River  they  crossed 
over  to  the  northern  side  of  the  strait,  and  traced  the 
southern  coast  of  King  William's  Island  for  about 
sixty  miles  till  it  turned  to  the  north  at  Cape  Ilerschel, 
distant  ninety  miles  from  the  magnetic  pole.  Along 
these  same  dreary  coasts  the  party  of  Sir  John  Frank- 
lin attempted  to  make  good  their  retreat  a])out  ten 
years  later ;  and  one  of  his  boats,  with  skeletons,  guns, 
etc.,  was  subsequently  found  some  distance  above 
Cape  Herschel. 

The  explorei's  also  surveyed  the  coasts  of  Victoria 
Land  for  a  long  distance,  and  reached  the  Copj)ermine 
on  the  16th  of  September,  having  made  a  voyage  of 
over  sixteen  hundred  miles  on  the  Polar  Sea — the 
longest  one  ever  made  thereon  in  ojien  boats. 

Mr.  Simpson  left  Fort  Confidence  on  the  26tli  of 
September,  1839,  and  after  a  journey  of  1910  miles 
made  on  foot  within  sixty-one  days,  he  arrived  at  Red 
River  Settlement  early  in  February,  184(».  Here  he 
remained  waiting  for  authority  from  England  to  pro- 
ceed on  a  new  expedition  which  he  had  proposed  to 
lead.  Deeply  mortified  at  not  receiving  answers  to 
his  dispatches  as  soon  as  he  expected  them,  he  left 


294 


MR.   SIMPSON   MURDERED. 


Vil 


the  settlement  on  the  6tli  of  June  with  a  party  of 
half-breeds  and  settlers,  intending  to  cross  the  pvaines 
to  St.  Peter's  on  the  Mississippi  lliver,  and  thenc* 
proceed  to  England. 

Mr.  Simpson  subsequently  went  on  ahead  with 
four  men,  and  beyond  this  all  that  is  known  with 
certainty  is,  that  on  the  13th  of  June  Simpson  shot 
two  of  his  companions;  that  the  other  two  rejoined 
the  larger  party,  and  that  a  portion  thereof  went  to 
his  encampment  on  the  next  morning  and  killed  him. 
Whether  he  shot  the  two  men  in  self-defence  oi-  when 
suffering  under  a  temporary  hallucination  of  mind 
was  never  known  by  his  friends. 

Messrs.  Dease  and  Simpson  supposed  that  they  had 
sailed  to  the  eastward  of  Boothia,  and  that  the  isth- 
mus which  Koss  said  connected  Boothia  with  the 
continent,  did  not  exist.  To  explore  the  coast  line 
which  was,  in  consequence  of  their  discoveries,  believ- 
ed to  extend  from  the  Castor  and  Pollux  easterly  to 
the  Fury  and  liecla  Strait — whose  waters  connect 
with  Hudson's  Bay — the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
sent  out  an  expedition  in  1846  under  Dr.  John  Rae. 

Dr.  llae,  with  twelve  men  and  two  boats,  left  Port 
York  on  the  12th  of  June,  and  coasted  northerly  along 
the  westerly  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay.  On  the  24th 
of  July  they  anchored  at  the  head  of  Repulse  Bay. 
They  then  proceeded  northerly,  taking  one  boat  with 
them,  over  an  isthmus  interspersed  with  lakes,  forty- 
ihree  miles  to  Committee  Bay,  the  southerly  extrem- 
ity of  Pi-ince  Regent's  Inlet.  Finding  that  the  rea- 
son was  too  far  advanced  to  complete  tlie  survey 
that  year,  Rae  determined,  vnth  a  bolduess  and  con- 
fidence ill  his  own  resources  that  has  never  been  sur- 
passed, to  winter  in  Repulse  Bay,  and  to  finish  his 


DR.  Rave's  explorations. 


295 


explorations  on  tlie  Ice  the  next  spring.  lie  therefore 
recrossed  the  isthmus  with  his  boat,  and  set  about 
collecting  pi-ovisions  and  fuel  for  a  ten  months'  winter. 

To  one  less  exj^erienced  and  hardy,  the  desolate 
shores  of.  Repulse  Bay  would  havj  forbidden  such  an 
attempt.  They  yielded  neither  drift-wood  nor  slirub- 
by  plants  of  any  kind ;  but  Dr.  Rae  employed  part 
of  his  men  to  gather  the  "withered  stems  of  a  small 
herbaceous  plant  which  grew  in  abundance  on  the 
rocks,  and  to  pile  it  in  cocks  like  hay:  otliers  lie  set 
to  build  a  house  of  stone  and  earth  called  Fort  Hope  ; 
while  lie  and  his  Es({uimaux  interpreter  were  occu- 
pied ill  killing  deer  for  winter  food. 

Early  in  April,  1847,  llae  and  part  of  his  men 
started  with  sledges  draAvn  by  dogs,  and  after  again 
reaching  Committee  Bay,  traveled  northerly'  along  its 
western  shore,  and  on  the  18th  reached  the  Lord 
Mayor's  Bay  of  Sir  John  Ross,  on  whose  shores  the 
crew  of  the  lost  Victory  so  long  resided.  This  jour- 
ney ju'oved  that  Ross  Avas  right  in  supposing  that 
Boi^tlna  Avas  connected  with  the  continent.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  pnK^eed  westerly  to  the  Castor 
and  Pollux,  and  the  i)arty  immediately  set  out  on 
their  return  to  Fort  Hope. 

On  the  12th  of  May  Rae  started  to  examine  the 
eastern  coast  of  Committee  Bay,  and  on  tlie  27tli  had 
reached  his  farthest  point  at  a  headland,  which  he 
called  Capo  Crozier,  situated  about  twenty  miles 
south  of  the  Avest  end  of  the  Fury  and  Ilecla  Strait. 
He  then  returned  to  Repulse  Bay,  and  the  whole 
party  arrived  safely  at  Foi't  Churchill  on  the  last  day 
of  August.  The  entire  expedition  had  been  an  emi- 
nently successful  one,  and  proved  that  Dr.  Rae  was 

well  calculated  for  an  Arctic  exidorer. 

18 


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::  ■>  'A-'  ./;;i; 


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J,  ivii 

ii  i.f- 


■  ■  •  1 .  /. 


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!    I^i 


CHAPTER  XXn. 

SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN'S  LAST  VOYAGE,  WITH 
A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE. 

One  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  indefatigable  ex- 
plorers of  the  Arctic  regions  of  this,  or  any  other  age, 
was  Sir  John  Franklin.  His  history  as  an  eminent 
navigator, — his  persistent,  cheerful  zeal  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  a  favorite  object  through  obstacles,  dan- 
gers, and  oftentimes  intense  suflering,won  for  him  the 
admiration  and  respect  of  the  civilized  world ;  and 
especially  has  the  uncertainty  of  his  fate  excited  an 
almost  universal  interest. 

John  Franklin  was  born  at  Spilsby,  Lincolnshire, 
England,  April  16th,  1786.  He  was  the  youngest  son 
of  a  respectable  farmer  in  moderaio  circumstances, 
with  a  family  of  twelve  children  to  provide  for  and 
educate.  John  was  intended  by  his  parents  for  the 
Church,  and  at  an  early  age  was  placed  in  a  grammar 
school  to  prepare  ultimately  for  the  ministry.  But 
his  tastes  led  him  in  a  different  direction.  He  had  a 
passion  for  the  sea.  While  a  school-boy  at  Louth,  he 
took  advantage  of  a  holiday  to  walk  twelve  miles, 
with  a  companion,  to  look  at  the  ocean,  which  he  then 
beheld  for  the  first  time.  The  effect  upon  his  mind 
was  wonderful.  He  gazed  upon  it  for  hours  with 
emotions  of  intensci  deUght,  and  from  that  day  his 

206 


w. 


KTr 


LIFE    OF    SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN. 


297 


heart  bunied  us  it  never  did  before,  to  trace  its  bound- 
aries and  explore  its  mysteries. 

His  father,  thinking  liis  son  carried  away  by  a  boy- 
ish romance,  and  tliat  he  had  no  idea  of  the  unpoet- 
ical  shade  of  a  sailor's  life,  hoped  that  a  little  expe- 
rience of  its  hardships  and  discomforts  would  break 
the  charm,  and  cure  him  of  his  folly.  Accoidingly  he 
gave  John  permission  to  make  a  voyage  in  a  merchant 
vessel  to  Lisbon.  But  the  e:cperiment  proved  an  un- 
fortunate one,  so  far  as  the  fathf;r's  wishes  were  con- 
cerned, for  it  only  served  to  intensify  the  boy's  passion 
for  a  sea-faring  liff"  Mr.  Franklin,  becoming  convinced 
that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  any  longer  to  change 
the  propensity  of  his  son,  yielded  to  his  wishes,  and 
procured  for  him  a  position  in  the  navy  aa  a  midship- 
man, at  the  age  of  fourteen,  He  was  placed  on  board 
the  Polyphemus,  a  ship  of  the  line,  and  sen'ed  in  her 
at  the  battle  of  Copenhagen,  Apiil  2d,  1801.  During 
the  engagement,  a  young  midshipman  and  comrade 
was  shot  dead  standing  by  his  side. 

In  the  ensuing  summer  he  was  more  pleasantly  em- 
ployed on  board  the  Investigator,  a  government 
ship  commanded  by  his  cousin,  Captain  Flinders,  who 
was  commissioned  to  explore  the  coasts  of  Australia. 
After  nearly  two  years  spent  in  this  service,  which 
was  an  excellent  preparatory  school  to  qualify  him 
for  future  pursuits,  he  with  the  officers  and  crew  sailed 
for  home  in  the  Porpoise,  a  store-ship — the  Investi- 
gator having  been  condemned  as  unseaworthy. 
But  the  Porpoise,  shortly  after  leaviug  port,  was 
wrecked  upon  a  reef  about  two  hundred  miles  from 
Australia.  Here  he  and  his  companions  renuiined  fifty 
days,  upon  a  small  sand-bank,  until  relief  came  to 
them   from    Port  Jackson.      The  crew  was  now  dis- 


:  1 1 


;!      I; 


I     .u 


■I     'V 


!  i 


298 


LIFE    OF    SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN. 


p    -i 

llvil 

liiii 

persed,  and  Franklin  was  taken  to  Canton,  where  he 
obtained  a  passage  to  England  on  board  an  armed  lu- 
diaman.  On  their  way  home  they  were  attacked  by 
a  French  man-of-war,  which,  after  a  severe  conflict, 
was  compelled  to  retire  in  a  crippled  condition.  Dur- 
ing the  battle,  young  Franklin  distinguished  himself 
for  bravery  and  efficiency. 

On  reaching  England  he  was  ordered  to  join  the  ship- 
of  the-line,  Bellerophon,  and  in  1805  took  part  in  the 
memorable  battle  of  Trafalgar,  in  which  he  discharged 
•^.lie  responsible  duties  of  signal  midshipman,  with  re- 
markable coolness  and  courage,  in  the  midst  of  a  hot 
ai\d  most  destructive  fire  from  the  enemy's  sharp-shoot- 
ern.  Of  forty  persons  who  stood  around  him  on  the 
potip  of  the  ship,  many  fell,  and  only  seven  escaped 
uni  urt. 

Subsequent  to  this,  he  served  six  years  on  board  the 
Bedford,  on  various  stations,  the  last  of  which  was  on 
the  coast  of  the  United  States,  during  the  war  of  1812 
-15.  He  commanded  the  boats  of  the  Bedford  in  a 
battle  with  the  American  gun-boats  at  New  Orleans, 
one  of  which  he  boarded  and  captured,  though  at  the 
expense  of  a  severe  wound.  For  his  gallantry  in  tliis 
action,  he  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy. 

In  1818  Franklin  made  his  first  Arctic  voyage  as 
commander  of  the  Trent,  and  with  Captain  Buchim 
attempted  to  sail  over  the  North  Pole.  In  181!)  he 
started  on  his  first  great  overland  journey  to  the 
shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  which  occupied  about 
throe  years. 

In  1823  he  was  married  to  Eleanor  Porden,  daugli- 
ter  of  an  eminent  architect,  a  lady  of  superior  abil- 
ities, who  distinguished  herself  at  a  very  early  age 
by  her  remarkable  attainments  in  Greek  and  Latin, 


LIFE    OF    SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN. 


299 


and  also  in  several  modern  lann;uages.  She  was  also 
a  proficient  in  botany,  chemistry,  and  geology.  She 
■was,  in  addition,  a  poetess  of  no  ordinary  promise. 
In  1818.  she  published  the  "Arctic  Expedition" — a 
poem.  This  led  to  her  acquaintance  Avith  Franklin, 
to  whom  she  was  united  in  marriage  in  1823. 

About  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  marriage,  Frank- 
lin Ava.s  appointed  to  the  command  of  another  over- 
land expedition  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  appoint- 
ment, though  in  accordance  with  his  chivalric  enthusi- 
astic nature,  was,  in  one  respect,  very  inopportune. 
His  devoted  wife  was  in  a  rapid  decline,  and  evidently 
drawing  near  her  end.  When  the  day  assigned  for 
his  departure  arrived,  she  was  lying  at  the  point  of 
death.  To  leave  her,  in  such  circumstances,  was  like 
tearing  out  his  heart-strings ;  but  she  insisted  that  he 
should  not  delay  his  departure  an  hour  on  her  account, 
and  as  he  took  his  leave  of  her,  she,  Avith  a  kiss,  gave 
him  as  a  parting  gift,  a  silk  flag,  with  a  request  that 
he  would  hoist  it  on  reaching  the  Polar  Sci,  which  he 
did.  She  died,  much  lamented,  the  day  after  her 
husl)and  left  England. 

On  his  return  from  his  two  overland  journeys, 
Franklin  published  narratives  thereof;  no  one  can 
read  them  without  deep  respect  and  admiration  for 
the  l)rave  Christian  spirit  which  sustained  him  and  his 
cornp.Miions  during  the  most  appalling  hardships. 
The  most  interesting  portions  of  these  narratives  have 
been  given  in  preceding  chapters. 

in  1828,  Franklin  was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Gi'iffin, 
(laughter  of  John  Grillin  Esq.,  and  born  about  1800. 
^^he  still  survives,  and  has  distinguished  herself  the 
world  over,  by  her  public  spirit,  and  her  indomitable 
perseverance  in  search  of  her  lost  husband.    In  the 


i! 


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ir 


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mm 


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■»i; ; 


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Hi 


if 

1)1 

Ii 


ii 


300 


LIFE    OF    SIR    JOUN    FRANKLIN. 


!  * 


^5 


same  year  he  published  a  narrative  of  his  second  ex- 
pedition, which  did  him  much  credit.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  knighted,  and  received  an  honorary 
degree  from  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  a  gold 
medal  from  a  learned  society  in  Paris. 

In  1830,  Sir  John,  as  he  was  from  that  time  called, 
was  put  in  eomniand  of  the  Rainbow,  and  ordered  to 
cruise  in  the  Mediterranean.  While  absent,  he  had 
opportunity  of  rendering  important  service  to  the 
Greek?,  who  were  then  struggling  to  throw  off  the 
Turkish  yoke,  under  which  they  had  long  been  sorel}' 
oppressed.  In  recognition  of  his  kindness.  King  Otho 
decorated  him  with  the  cross  of  the  "Kedoemcr  of 
Greece."  Probably  no  commander  of  a  ship  ever  paid 
more  attention  to  the  comfort  of  those  ])laced  mider 
him  than  Franklin,  and  the  sailors  expressed  their 
sense  of  his  kindness  by  calling  his  vessel  the  "  Celes- 
tial II{iinl)OW,"  and  "Franklin's  Paradise." 

In  183o,  he  was  appointed  governor  of  Van  Die- 
men's  Land,  which  position  he  held  till  1843.  His  ad- 
ministration in  this  colony  was  remarkablj''  popular 
and  useful.  He  originated,  and  executed  many  impor- 
tant measures  for  the  benefit  ot  the  eolonlsts,  for 
which  they  made  both  public  and  private  demonstra- 
tions of  their  gratitude.  He  founded  a  college  and 
endowed  it  largely  from  his  own  funds,  to  be  <  on- 
ducted  on  the  most  liberal  principles,  without  distinc- 
tion of  sect. 

When  he  resigned  his  office  and  returned  to  England, 
universal  regret  was  expressed  by  the  people  of  the 
co'ony.  On  the  day  of  his  departure,  a  more  numcr- 
O  is  gathering  than  had  ever  been  seen  on  ihe  island, 
attended  him  to  the  ship,  and  lie  was  much  gratified 
by  receiving  complimenLary  and  affectionate  addresses 


a  passage  ^\ 


franklin's  last  voyage. 


301 


from  every  district  in  the  colony.  As  evidence  of  the 
affection  these  remote  colonists  cherished  for  him, 
they,  years  afterward,  spontaneously  raised  nearly 
$10,000,  and  forwarded  it  to  Lady  Franklin  to  aid  her 
in  fitting  out  an  expedition  to  search  for  her  missing 
husband. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts to  discover  a  North-west  passage  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  it  was  still  the  firm  belief  of  scientific  men  that 
such  a  passage  did  exist,  and  the  desire  to  solve  the 
problem  of  centuries  was  undiminished ;  ultliough 
reasonable  men  hud  long  been  convinced  that  if  such 
a  passage  was  found,  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of 
navigating  the  Northern  seas  were  so  great  as  to  pre- 
clude the  use  of  it  for  purposes  of  commerce. 

Engliuul  especially  was  ambitious  of  the  honor  of 
proclaiming  to  the  world  that  the  great  question  was 
settled,  and  was  also  actuated  by  a  more  laudable  desu'e 
to  promote  the  interests  (>f  science.  Although  she  had 
already  expended  much  treasure,  and  sacrificed  many 
valuable  lives  in  the  imdertaking  which  hud  long  been 
the  dream  of  her  philosophers,  she  determined  to  make 
another  attempt  to  accomplish  it. 

Accordingly,  in  1845,  the  two  ships,  the  "Erebus" 
and  "  Terror,"  in  which  Sir  Joiin  Clarke  Ro.ss  had  just 
returned  (rom  his  career  of  discovery  in  the  Southern 
seas,  were  fitted  out.  Both  were  of  moderate  size, 
and  renowned  for  their  fitness  to  encounter  ice.  They 
were  now  provided  witli  suudl  steam  engines  and 
screw  propellers,  and  a  three  years'  supply  of  every 
thing  that  could  contribute  lo  the  healtii  and  comfort 
of  voyagers  in  the  Arctic  regions.  The  vessels  were  also 
furnished  with  ship-stox'es,  tools,  nautical  instruments^ 
fire-arms,  and  a  large  supply  ot  amunitiou ;  in  shorf^ 


I.-.   ! 


■'  s 


M: 


■  ,f- 


t:n 


302 


FRANKLIN   S    LAST    VOYAGE. 


.l',f 


U  i 


with  every  thing  imagination  and  experience  could 
suggest,  that  would  be  neediiil  for  ofhcer.s  and  crew. 

It  was  hardly  a  question  with  the  Admiralty,  who 
should  be  a{)i)ointed  to  the  command  of  this  enter- 
prise,— it  was  Sir  John  Franklin,  of  course.  No  other 
man  in  England  was  better  qualified  for  this  impor- 
tant and  perilous  undertaking.  lie  had  talent,  sound 
judgment,  kindness  of  heart,  large  experience,  and 
had  lost  none  of  his  youthful  enthusiasm  for  adventure, 
although  nearly  sixty  years  of  age.  The  achievement 
of  a  "  North-west  passage  "  had  been  the  day-dream  of 
his  life,  and  he  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  make 
another  attempt  for  the  realization  of  his  long-cher- 
ished hopes.  He  unhesitatingly  accepted  the  ap- 
pointment. 

The  second  in  command  was  Captain  Francis  R.  M. 
Crozier,  a  bold  and  experienced  navigator,  who  had 
been  with  Parry  in  all  his  northern  voyages,  and  was 
second  officer  in  command  of  the  Antarctic  expedition 
under  Ross.  Crozier  was  appointed  captain  of  the 
Terror,  and  Franklin  sailed  in  the  Erebus.  The  crews 
of  these  two  vessels,  amounting  in  all,  including  offi- 
cers, to  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  souls,  were 
picked  men,  hardy,  experienced,  bold,  reliable,  and 
enthusiastic. 

Franklin  was  instructed  to  proceed  through  Lancas- 
ter Sound,  and  westward  in  the  latitude  of  74  i"  until 
he  reached  the  longitude  of  98°  west.  From  that 
point  he  was  to  penetrate  to  the  southwest  towards 
Behring's  Straits. 

The  ships  sailed  on  the  19th  of  May,  1845,  accom- 
panied by  a  tender  with  additional  supplies.  This 
tender  was  dismis.sed  in  Davis's  Strait,  and  letters  from 
the  officers  and  crew  carried  back — the  last  ever  re- 


franklin's  last  voyage. 


303 


ceived  from  them.  One  of  the  men  wrote  as  follows : 
— "I  need  hardly  tell  you  how  much  wo  arc  all  delighted 
with  our  captain.  He  lia.s,  I  am  sure,  won  not  only  the 
respect  but  the  love  of  every  per.son  on  board,  by  his 
amiable  manner  and  kindness  to  all ;  and  his  influence 
is  always  employed  for  some  good  purpose,  both 
among  the  oHicers  and  men.  lie  takes  an  active  part 
in  everything  that  goes  on." 

A  letter  which  Sir  John  wrote  to  his  friend  Colonel 
Sabine,  contained  the  following :  — 

"I  hope  my  dear  wife  and  daughter  will  not  be  over- 
anxious if  we  should  not  return  l^y  the  time  they  have 
fixed  upon  ;  and  I  must  beg  of  you  to  give  them  the 
benefit  of  your  advice  and  experience  when  that  time 
arrives,  for  you  know  well  that  without  success  in  our 
object,  even  after  the  second  winter,  we  should  wish 
to  try  some  other  channel  if  the  state  of  our  provis- 
ions and  tlie  health  of  the  crews  justify  it" 

The  ships  started  northward  iigain  on  the  13th  of 
July ;  on  the  2&th  of  July  they  wore  spoken  near  lat- 
itude 75°  by  the  whaler  Prince  of  Wales,  which  was 
boarded  by  seven  officers  of  the  expedition,  who  in- 
vited the  captain  to  dine  with  Sir  John  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  But  as  a  breeze  favorable  for  the  wualer 
sprang  up  in  the  night,  its  captain  set  sail  without 
receiving  on  board  any  of  the  letters  which  the  ex- 
plorers doubtless  intended  to  give  him  before  he  left 
them.  When  the  Prince  of  Wales  left  the  two  ships, 
they  were  moored  to  an  ice-berg. 

This  was  the  last  ever  seen  of  the  "  Erebus  "  and 
"  Terror,"  and  the  last  direct  intelligence  that  has  been 
received  from  Sir  John  Franklin  and  his  men  to  this  day. 
Years  elapsed  before  any  indication  of  their  fate  or  the 
faintest  trace  of  the  lost  explorers  were  discovered. 


.1! 


I    ii 


H 


I 


lit 


'I 

A.' 


u 


■'  'if  ; 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
SEARCHES  FOR  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(expeditions  of  1848.) 

As  the  year  1847  drew  to  a  close  wltlioiit  Lriiiging 
any  intelligence  from  Franklin,  great  solicitude  fur 
his  safety  was  felt  in  England,  and  the  government 
resolved  to  send  out  three  distinct  expeditions  to 
search  for  him.  Each  of  these  was  to  have  its  own 
independent  route,  but  all  were  to  converge  toward 
the  Arctic  Archipelago,  through  whose  intricate  and 
unex}dored  channels  and  sounds  Franlclin  was  supposed 
to  be  striving  to  force  his  way.  One  of  these  expe- 
ditions was  to  sail  direct  to  Lancaster  Sound,  and 
follow  in  the  track  of  the  missing  shii)s;  another  was 
to  ])roceed  overland  down  the  ^Mackenzie  River,  and 
examine  the  coasts  of  the  continent ;  and  the  third 
was  to  go  by  ^vixy  of  Bering's  Straits. 

The  command  of  the  first  named  expedition  was 
given  to  Ca])tain  James  C.  Ross,  who  sailed  from 
Englanil,  June  12th,  1848,  with  two  ships,  the  Enter- 
prise ixui\  Investigator — the  latter  })elng  commanded 
by  Captain  E.  J.  Bird.  Each  ship  was  provided  with 
a  steam  launch.  The  passage  through  Balllu's  Bay 
was  difficult  and  tedious,  and  Lancaster  Sound  was 
not  reached  till  nearly  the  last  of  August,     At  its 

304 


JAMES   C.    R088  8   EXPEDITION, 


305 


entrance  and  wliile  Hailing  along  its  coasts,  the  shores 
M'ere  carefully  scrutinized  for  traces  of  Franklin. 
Guns  were  fired  when  foggy ;  rockets  and  lights  were 
fre(iuently  burned  ;  and  casks  containing  information 
for  the  benefit  of  the  missing  men  Avere  daily  thrown 
overl  )oard. 

On  the  Ist  of  September,  Ross  re.-i' lied  Cape  York 
at  the  east  side  of  the  entrance  to  Prim-e  llegent's 
Inlet.  He  then  ci'ossetl  the  inlet,  and  coasted  the 
northern  shores  of  Barrow's  Strait,  far  enough  to  see 
that  Wellington  Channel  was  firmly  frozen.  On  the 
11th  of  Se])tember  he  with  great  dllliculty  reached 
Port  Leo})old,  ^vhich  is  situated  at  the  junction  of 
the  four  great  channels,  Lancaster  Sound,  Bariow's 
Strait,  Wellington  Channel,  and  Pi-ince  Pegent's  In- 
let. The  next  day  the  ice-pack  closed  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor  and  the  exj)edition  was  fast  for  the  winter, 
Avhii'h  the  crews  })assed  in  a  comfortable  manner. 

Over  fifty  white  foxes  were  taken  alive  dui'ing  the 
season  in  traps  constructed  of  casks,  and  after  being 
fitted  to  copper  collars  ni)on  which  were  engi-avedthe 
position  of  the  shijis  and  provision  depots,  they  were 
set  at  libeity, in  the  hope  that  some  of  them  might  be 
caught  by  Frardclin's  men. 

On  the  15th  of  May,  lloss  and  Lieut.  McClintock 
with  twelve  men,  made  a  journey  to  the  south,  and 
examined  the  northern  and  western  shores  of  North 
Somerset,  but  found  no  ti-aces  of  Franklin,  and  the 
party  returned  to  the  ships,  June  2.')d,  in  an  ex- 
hausted condition.  In  their  absence  other  unsnccess- 
ful  searches  had  been  made,  and  one  party  visited 
the  house  on  Fury  Point  in  which  Sir  John  lloss 
passed  the  winters  of  1832-3. 
It  was  now  midsummer,  but  the  Enterprise  and 


i.'-i 


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30G 


8p:arciies  for  franklin. 


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:IW 


Investigator  were  still  Woclvaded  hy  the  ice,  Piepn- 
rations  for  leaving  Avere  however  made,  and,  as  a 
refuge  for  lost  exjdorers,  a  house  covered  with  can- 
vas was  erected  on  the  shore  of  spars  and  oilier  nia- 
tei'ial.  A  large  8n]iply  of  provisions  \vas  ntored 
therein ;  and  one  of  the  launches  was  put  in  good 
order,  to  be  left  behind. 

After  an  inijirisonnient  in  the  ice  of  one  year  less 
fourteen  days,  the  ships  were  lilierated  on  the  28t}i 
of  August,  and  steered  toward  the  northern  sliore  of 
Barrow's  Strait ;  but  they  were  soon  surrounded  hy 
ice,  and  it  seemed  i)rolni])le  that  they  would  remain 
therein  for  another  winter.  Soon  afterward,  however, 
the  whole  body  of  ice  began  to  drive  to  the  eastward, 
and  the  ships  were  carried  with  it  through  Lancaster 
Sound  and  down  the  westerly  shores  of  BafHn's  B  i)'. 
Here  a  great  number  of  icebergs  stretched  across 
the  path,  and  ])resented  the  crews  a  fearful  prospect  of 
the  destruction  of  their  vessels.  But  when  least  ex- 
pected by  them,  the  great  ice-floe  was  rent  into  innu- 
merable fragments,  as  if  by  some  imseen  jxnver,  and 
the  vessels  Mere  released  from  its  gi'asp.  But  it 
was  evident  that  the  hunt  of  the  Enteiprise  and 
Investigator  was  over  for  that  season ;  so  they  v.'ere 
turned  homeward,  and  reached  Enj^land  in  Noveml)er 
IS-tO.  The  searchers  had  found  no  clue  as  to  -where 
the  lost  explorers  were,  but  had  learned  of  some 
places  where  they  were  not. 

The  overland  search  for  Franklin  was  entrusted  to 
Sir  John  Kichardson  assisted  by  Dr.  John  Rae. 
These  gentlemen  left  Liverpool  ]\[arch  25th,  184S, 
and  reached  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com])any  tei'T'itory, 
via  New  York  and  Mcmtreal.  Proceeding  thence  to 
Great  Slave  Lake  by  the  usual  rout*^,  they  crossed  it, 


llICHAnDSON    AND    KAK*8    EXrKDITION. 


307 


and  entered  the  Mackenzie  River,  July  21st.  The 
sea  waa  readied  early  in  August,  and  here  Escjuimanx 
were  met  in  great  numbers — all  anxious  to  trade,  or 
steal,  as  ()])iH)rtunity  offered  ;  but  of  Franklin  or  his 
shijjs  they  knew  nothing. 

After  <'ntering  the  Arc-tie  Ocean,  Tllchard son  coasted 
eastward  for  some  eight  hundred  miles,  lioping  to 
reach  and  ascend  the  Coppermine  llivtu';  bat  when 
near  its  mouth,  ice  prevented  further  ju-ogi-css  of  the 
boats,  and  tlu'y  were  hauled  into  a  safe  jMwition,  as 
far  as  the  elements  Avere  C(mcerned,  and  abandoned 
Avith  nearly  all  their  contents.  It  was  sul)se(|uently 
ascertained  that  the  goods  were  ai)i»ropi-iated  ])y  the 
Esquimaux,  who  also  destroyed  the  boats  to  secure 
the  iron  and  copper  used  in  their  construction. 

The  party  now  proceeded  on  foot  to  the  Copper- 
mine lliver  and  up  its  valley,  and  reached  Fort  Con- 
fidence on  Great  Bear  Lake,  Sept.  lath.  Here  they 
passed  the  winter.  The  next  summer.  Dr.  Kae  with 
six  men  descended  the  Coj)permine  for  the  ]nir{)ose 
of  searching  the  coasts  of  Wollaston  and  Victoria 
Land;  but  the  strait  was  so  full  of  ice  that  he  could 
not  cross  it,  and  the  party  returned  to  Fort  Confidence 
at  the  close  of  August.  Dr.  Richardsou  left  the  fort 
on  the  7th  of  May,  and  reached  Liverpool  in  Novem- 
ber after  an  absence  of  nineteen  months.  Not  the 
slightest  information  of  Franklin  had  been  obtained; 
but  provisions  and  letters  Avere  buried  in  several 
places,  and  signal  posts  indicating  thi'  i>reciNe  s])ots 
set  up  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  castaways  if 
they  chanced  to  come  that  Avay. 

The  expedition  ])y  Avay  of  Bering's  Strait  Avas  put 
under  command  of  Captain  Henry  Kellett,  of  the 
ship  Herald,  which  was  then   in  the   Pacific.     On 


i     I    • 


■WSWWPl^B"" 


308 


SEAKCIIES   FOR   FRANKL». 


ISi    'j 


\i  Hi 


receiving  instructions  from  home  to  that  effect,  Kel- 
lett  proceeded  to  Kotzebiie  Sound,  but  returned  to 
winter  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Another  vessel,  the 
Phjver,  commanded  by  Thomaa  E.  L.  Moore,  started 
from  England  January  1st,  1848,  to  join  tlie  Herald, 
and  passed  the  winter  of  1848-9  at  Noovel,  Kam- 
chatka. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1849,  the  Plover  anchored  off 
Chamisso  Island,  Kotzebue  Sound,  the  appointed 
rendezvous,  where  she  was  joined  the  next  day  by 
the  Herald,  and  by  the  yacht  Nancy  Dawson,  in 
wdiich  its  owner,  Robert  Shedden,  had  started  on  a 
pleasure  trip  around  the  world.  While  in  Cliina,  Mr. 
Shedden  heard  of  the  intended  expedition,  and  resolved 
to  Join  it  in  the  search  for  Franklin. 

On  the  18th,  the  three  vessels  sailed  north  and  on 
the  25th  had  reached  Icy  Cape.  At  this  ])oint  an 
expedition  of  four  boats  under  Lieut.  Pullei.i,  accom- 
panied by  the  yacht,  proceeded  up  the  coast  ns  far  as 
Dease's  Inlet.  The  yacht  and  two  of  the  boats  then 
returned  to  the  ships,  Avhich  meantime  liad  r*i\iised  to 
the  north  until  ice  was  encountt-rt-d.  Lie  it.  Pullen, 
with  the  other  two  boats,  continued  the  search  easterly 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie,  whic-h  he  ji^c<'nded, 
reaching  Fort  Simpson  on  the  l-'Uh  of  October.  Here 
he  wintered  ;  and  in  the  following  season  lie  descend- 
ed the  river,  and  remained  on  the  sea  coast  till  the 
first  of  Sej)tember.  Returning  to  Fort  Simpson  he 
proceeded  to  England,  .'ind  again  joined  in  the  search 
as  commander  of  the  North  Star. 

In  S<'})tember,  the  three  \essels  rendezvoused  in 
Kotzebue  Sound,  and  on  the  29th  of^that  month, 
leaving  the  Plover  to  winter  there,  the  Herald  and 
the  Nancy  Dawson  started  soxith.     The  gallant  Shed- 


THE  HERALD  AND   PLOVER. 


309 


den,  who  had  token  an  active  and  daring  part  in  the 
sinnnier's  search,  died  at  Mazatlan  fs  )on  afterwiird. 

In  July,  1850,  the  Herahl  again  j  /ined  the  Plover 
at  the  rendezvous,  and  the  two  vessels  started  north 
together,  Lut  on  encountering  ice  separated.  The 
coast  between  Icy  Cape  and  Point  Barrow  Avas  care- 
fully examined  hj  the  Plover.  The  two  vessels  met 
again  in  August,  and  fell  in  with  the  Enterprise — 
Captain  Collinson — wl  ich  had  just  arrived  to  join  in 
the  search.  When  winter  came  on  the  Herald  sailed 
for  England,  and  the  Plover  anchored  in  Grantley 
llarLor,  At  a  subsequent  date  the  Plover  also  re- 
turned home. 


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»7W|PW^WI^W" 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
SEARCHES  FOR  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(expeditions  of  1850.) 

Frv'E  years  had  now  elapsed  since  Franklin  left 
England,  and  not  a  -word  had  been  heard  from  liim 
since  the  Prince  of  Wales  parted  from  the  Erebus  and 
Terror  in  Baffin's  Bay.  Hopes  were  howev^er  enter- 
tained that  the  missing  explorers  were  still  alive,  and 
the  desire  to  rescue  them  became  intense.  The  search, 
in  which  the  United  States  now  joined,  was  accord- 
ingly renewed  with  increased  vigor.  Several  fresh 
expeditions  were  dispatched  from  England  to  the 
scene  of  action.  One  of  them  consisting  of  two  ships, 
tlie  Enterprise  and  Investigator,  under  Collinson  and 
McClure,  sailed  for  Bering's  Strait,  via  Cape  Horn ; 
and  t)thers,  whose  history  is  given  in  this  chapter, 
took  tlie  old  route  up  Baffin's  Bay. 

The  most  important  of  these  expeditions  via  Baffin's 
Bay,  was  entrusted  to  the  command  of  Captain  II.  T. 
Austin,  and  comprised  two  ships — the  Resolute  and 
Assistance — and  two  screw  steamers — the  Pioneer 
and  Intre|)id.  These  vessels  were  commanded  respect- 
ively by  Captain  Austin,  Ca^jtain  E  Onminney,  Lieut. 
S.  Oslx.rne,  and  Lieut.  B.  Cator.  Caj)(ain  Austin's 
squadron  sailed  from  England  in  May,  18D0,  its  par- 

iilO 


•J' 


ticular  miss 
ton  Chann€ 
The  seas 
navigation, 
ville  Bay,  d 
The  Assist? 
tion  of  the  i 
reached  Ca 
Channel,   w 
lost  expedit 
ing  vessels, 
shared  in  tli 
Soon  afte 
were  in  th( 
Beechey  Isl 
were  found 
and  the  gra\ 
tliat  the  ere' 
made  their 
Advance,  ca 
lin,  and  las 
subse(|uent 
Leaving 
tin's  squadiN 
Island  and 
frozen  in  tin 
excui'siuns  \ 
Onnnaney  ^\ 
teen  sledges 
— two  hun< 
t'.xplored. 
sails  were 
large  kites  \ 
liigh,  these 


AUSTIN  S   SQUADRON. 


311 


ticular  mission  being  to  search  the  shores  of  Welling- 
ton Channel,  and  Melville  Island. 

The  season  proved  an  unfavorable  one  for  Arctic 
navigation,  and  the  ships,  being  beset  l)y  ice  in  Alel- 
ville  Bay,  did  not  reach  Lancaster  Sound  till  August. 
The  Assistance  and  Intrepid  undertook  the  examina- 
tion of  the  north  shores  of  this  sound,  and  on  the  23d 
reached  Cape  Riley,  at  the  entrance  to  AVellington 
Channel,  where  were  found  the  first  traces  of  the 
lost  expedition.  The  Rescue,  one  of  the  U.  S,  ex])lor- 
ing  vessels,  Avas  also  at  Cape  Riley  at  the  time  and 
shared  in  this  discovery. 

Soon  afterward  several  ships  of  other  expeditions 
Avere  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  Riley ;  and  on 
Beecliey  Island,  three  miles  distant  from  the  cape, 
were  found  very  interesting  relics  of  Franklin's  party, 
and  the  graves  of  three  of  liis  men.  All  went  to  slunv 
that  the  crcAvs  of  the  Erebus  and  TeiTor  had  here 
made  their  first  winter-quarters.  Dr.  Kane,  of  the 
Advance,  carefully  examined  all  these  traces  of  Frank- 
lin, and  his  descriptions  thereof  will  be  found  in  a 
siibseipient  chajiter  of  this  book. 

Leaving  Beechey  Island  and  sailing  westerly,  Aus- 
tin's squadron  reached  a  position  bet\veen  CoruAvallis 
Island  and  (Iriffitb's  Island  where  the  vessels  were 
frozen  in  the  ice  fur  the  wintei'.  In  the  spring,  sledge 
oxcui'.sions  were  made  along  Parry's  Strait,  (-aj)tain 
Oinmaney  m  ith  one  hundred  and  fou''  men  and  four- 
teen sledges,  traveled  four  hundred  and  eighty  miles 
— two  hundred  and  five  of  which  hii  1  never  been 
explored.  In  this  Journey,  occupying  sixty  days, 
sails  were  occasionally  hoisted  on  the  sledgt's,  and 
large  kites  were  also  attached.  When  the  wind  w;is 
high,  these  aids  propelled   the  sledgi;  very  rapidly, 


w 


i.-lu^- 


M2 


SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN-, 


ii 


l|i| 


and  the  wliole  of  the  party  then  rode ;  but  when  the 
wind  fell,  tlie  sledges,  with  their  provisions  and  stores, 
had  to  be  dragged  l)y  main  force  over  the  ice  Ijy  the 
men  harnessed  to  them. 

A  second  sledge  excursion,  under  Lieut.  McClin- 
tock,  traveled  seven  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  discov- 
ered forty  miles  of  coast,  and  achieved  the  fui'thest 
westing  that  had  ever  been  attained  in  this  part  of 
the  Polar  Sea — a  point  in  latitude  74''  38^  and  longi- 
tude ll^''  20 ^  To  the  north  of  Bank's  Land  and  at 
a  distance  of  about  seventy  miles,  he  discovered  a 
range  of  land  apparently  running  nearly  due  Avest. 
Following  the  coast  of  Melville  Island  to  the  north- 
east, he  entered  Liddon  Gulf,  and  here  saw  fragnients 
of  coal  of  good  quality.  In  June  he  found  Parry's 
encampment  of  1820,  and  the  "  strong  but  light  cart" 
in  which  Parry  carried  his  tent  and  stores,  and  the 
kettle  containing  the  cylinder  in  which  was  enclosed 
Pai'iy's  record.  Placing  the  kettle  over  the  fire,  the 
cylinder  was  thawed  out  and  the  record  cai'efuUy 
unfolded ;  but  nothing  but  the  date  could  be  distin- 
guished. McClintock  then  struck  across  the  land  to 
Winter  Harbor,  another  of  Parry's  encampments, 
which  evidently  had  not  been  visited  since  1820. 
The  inscription  there  cut  on  a  large  sandstone  boul- 
der was  still  legible.  On  the  Gth  of  June  he  started 
to  return  to  the  ship,  and  reached  it  July  4th. 

These  searches  having  resulted  in  firulinfj;  no  traces 
of  the  p]rel)us  and  Terror  west  and  north  of  the  mouth 
of  "Wellington  Channel,  Austin  concluded  that  they 
had  probably  steered  for  the  Polar  Sea  through  .lones" 
Sound,  and  he  therefore  visited  that  locality  with  his 
two  steamers.  After  going  up  the  sound  some  forty- 
five  miles  he  was  arrested  by  a  fixed  banier  of  ict . 


Mhen 
Vance, 
Ross 
years 
made 
winter( 
Wh( 

rier  pi; 

stilted 

hu. 

in  a 

West  gf 

would 


sift   JOHN   ROSS  S   EXPEDITION. 


313 


He  found  no  traces  of  Franklin's  party,  and,  conclud- 
ing that  any  fui'tlier  effcrt  would  be  useless,  he  set 
sail  for  England  where  he  arrived  in  the  autumn  of 
1851. 

Among  the  searchers  for  Franldin  was  the  veteran 
Sir  John  Ross,  who  sailed  from  England,  April,  1850, 
in  a  small  vessel  called  the  Felix,  accompanied  Ity  his 
own  yacht,  the  Mary,  as  a  tender. 

Sir  John  overtook  Austin's  squadron  off  the  coast 
of  Greenland  on  the  11th  of  August,  and  on  the  l.'3th 
fell  in  with  some  Esquimaux  near  Cape  Yoi-k,  who 
told  him,  that  in  the  winter  of  1846  two  ships  were 
crushed  in  the  ice  a  little  further  up  the  coast,  and 
their  crews,  some  of  whom  wore  epaulets,  killed  liy 
the  natives.  A  subsequent  investigation  led  Austin 
to  believe  that  the  whole  story  was  untrue ;  but  Ross, 
long  after  his  return  to  England,  adhered  to  his  theory 
that  the  lost  explorers  perished  in  Bathn's  Bay  in  the 
manner  indicated  by  the  Esquimaux. 

Ross,  however,  continued  the  sean^h  as  previously 
arranged  with  Austin,  and  on  the  19th  of  August 
when  off  Admirality  Inlet,  was  overtaken  by  the  Ad- 
vance, Lieut.  De  Haven,  at  just  about  the  spot  where 
Ross  had  been  picked  up  by  the  Isabella  seventeen 
years  before.  Ross  bore  a  part  in  the  discoveries 
made  at  Cape  Riley  and  vicinity,  and  subsequently 
wintered  in  the  ice  near  Austin's  ships. 

When  Ross  left  England  a  lady  gave  him  four  car- 
rier pigeons,  two  of  which  he  was  to  libei'ate  at  a 
stated  time,  and  the  other  two  when  he  found  Frank- 
liu,  Ross  sent  off  the  first  pair  on  the  6th  of  October 
in  a  basket  suspended  to  a  balloon,  during  a  north- 
west gale.  By  a  slow-match  arrangement  the  birds 
would    be  liberated  at  the  end  of  twenty-four  houre. 


'I 


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i     ■:■'  i 

11  ''''^1 

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■I.  •:>  I 


i   i1 


314 


SEARCHES   FOE   FKA^KLIN. 


On  the  13tli  of  October  a  pigeon  arrived  at  the  dove- 
cot of  the  lady,  which  she  believed  to  be  one  of  those 
given  to  Ross.  It  brought  no  message,  but  that  was 
believed  to  have  been  lost  during  the  long  transit. 

Another  of  the  expeditions  of  1850  was  fitted  out 
wholly  through  the  efforts  of  I^ady  Franklin,  and 
mostly  at  her  expense.  It  consisted  of  a  ship  and  a 
brig,  the  Lady  Franklin  and  the  Sophia,  and  wa3 
placed  in  charge  of  Captain  Penny,  who  had  had  much 
Arctic  experience  as  master  of  a  whaling  ship. 

Although  the  expedition  was  an  independent  one, 
Penny  co-operated  with  the  others,  and  after  partici- 
pating in  the  search  at  Cape  Riley  his  vessels  were 
frozen  up  for  the  winter  a  few  miles  easterly  of  Aus- 
tin's squadron. 

In  the  spring,  Captain  Penny  undertook  the  search 
of  Wellington  Channel,  and  on  the  17th  of  April  six 
sledge  parties  started  under  his  general  superintend- 
ence. The  principal  discovery  was  a  wide  strait  to 
the  noith  of  Cornwallis  Island,  which  was  named 
Victoria  Channel. 

Full  of  faith  that  Franklin  had  gone  up  this  chan- 
nel Penny  hastened  back  to  the  ships  for  a  boat,  wliii'h 
he  mounted  on  sledges,  and  after  incredible  fatigues 
and  tantalizing  delays,  he  launched  on  the  channel 
and  examined  three  hundred  and  ten  miles  of  the 
coast,  when,  his  provisions  failing,  he  was  compelled 
reluctantly  to  retrace  his  course.  His  perseverance 
on  this  expedition  entitles  him  to  an  honorable  name 
among  Arctic  explorers. 

On  the  12th  of  August,  1851,  the  Lady  Franklin 
and  Sophia,  again  free  from  the  ice-grip,  wv.m  started 
homeward,  and  arrived  safely  in  England  about  the 
middle  of  September. 


•ahe  prince  albert. 


315 


.  Supplementary  to  Captain  Penny's  expedition  was 
that  of  the  schooner  Prince  Albert  under  Captain 
Forsyth.  Lady  Franklin  had  still  some  funds  left, 
and  thought  they  could  not  be  better  invested  than 
in  equipping  another  vessel  to  go  in  search  of  her 
lost  husband.  Making  use  of  all  her  available  means 
she  defrayed  about  two-thirds  of  the  cost  of  this 
expedition,  and  her  friends  paid  the  balance.  Captain 
Forsyth  was  ably  assisted  by  Commander  W.  P. 
Snow,  and  both  were  volunteers,  Avho  desired  no  fur- 
ther compensation  than  the  satisfaction  of  rendering 
aid  to  a  noble  man  and  an  equally  noble  lady.  They 
were  instructed  to  examine  the  shores  of  Prince  Re- 
gent's Inlet,  which  at  the  time  Franklin  sailed  was 
supposed  to  communicate  with  the  Polar  Sea  through 
Dease's  Strait. 

Captain  Forsyth  sailed  from  Aberdeen  on  the  5th 
of  June,  and  on  the  21st  of  August  arrived  off  i*ort 
Leopold.  Here  he  landed,  and  found  that  the  house 
constructed  by  Sir  John  Ross  was  in  good  condition 
to  furnish  a  retreat  for  Arctic  adventures,  and  the 
stores  were  abundant  and  in  good  order. 

Losing  no  time  here,  the  Prince  Alljert  boldly  en- 
tered Prince  Regent's  Inlet.  When  they  were  sailing 
past  Batty  Bay  the  crew  were  greatly  excited  by  hear- 
ing what  they  supposed  was  the  firing  of  a  gun  on 
shore.  The  officers  directed  their  ghisses  to  the  land, 
but  nothing  human  was  to  be  seen.  The  howitzer 
was  fired,  but  there  was  no  response,  and  relucttintly 
tliey  coneluded  that  the  noise  they  had  heard  Avas 
occasioned  by  the  falling  of  a  rock  or  masses  of  ice. 
When  cff  Fury  Beach,  the  schooner's  pi"ogress  was 
stopped  by  a  dense  fog,  and  when  this  cleared  the 
vessel  was  found  in  a  bight  of  ice  within  a  few  yards 


mmm 


11 


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,1  *!: 


% 


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't 


316 


SJ:aRCIIES   fob   FnANKLIN. 


of  a  hummooky  field,  in  which  not  one  crack  of  open 
water  could  be  seen  from  the  crow's-nest.  Forsyth 
and  Snow  concluded  that  their  mission  to  Boothia 
was  effectually  thwarted  for  that  season,  and  turning 
the  bow  of  the  Prince  Albeii;  northward,  proceeded 
to  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Riley,  Avhere  they  fell  in  with 
several  vessels  of  the  English  and  Ameiican  expe- 
ditions. Learning  of  the  discoveries  which  had  been 
made  there  but  a  day  or  two  previously,  they  Joined 
in  the  search,  and  then,  with  some  of  the  relics  of 
Franklin's  party,  started  homeward  where  they  arrived 
on  the  1st  of  October. 

One  other  vessel  which  was  in  Barrow's  Straits  in 
1850  should  here  be  mentioned.  The  North  Star 
left  England  in  1849,  with  stores  for  the  expedition 
of  James  C.  Ross,  but  she  was  beset  by  ice  in  Jilel- 
ville  Bay  and  drifted  up  the  coast  of  Greenland,  wliere 
she  wintered  in  lat.  TB'*  33'.  Four  of  her  crew  tiied 
before  she  escaped  from  the  ice.  She  arrived  at  lort 
Leopold,  Aug.  13th,  but  finding  the  harbor  full  of 
ice,  proceeded  to  Navy  Board  Inlet  near  Wollaston 
Land,  where  she  put  on  the  mainland  her  surplus 
stores  and  fuel.  Then  scudding  before  a  gale,  she 
sailed  through  Lancaster  Sound,  and  arrived  in  Scot- 
land on  the  28th  of  September,  1850. 


I!    ■'  ?   r 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
SEARCHES  FOR  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(discovery  of  a  north-west  passage.) 

The  Bering's  Strait  Expedition  referred  to  in  the 
last  chapter,  consisted  of  two  ships,  the  Enterprise,  Cap- 
tain Richard  Collinson,  and  the  Investigator,  Command- 
er Robert  McClure.  These  brave  men  sailed  on  their 
benevolent  and  hazardous  mission,  J  inuary  20th,  1850, 
and  made  a  safe  and  s])eedy  passage  to  Bering's  Strait. 
On  the  28th  of  August  Collinson  had  reached  a  posi- 
tion north  of  Point  Barrow,  but  being  unable  to  pene- 
trate further  on  account  of  the  ice,  he  sailed  for  Gran  tley 
Harbor,  where  the  Plover  was  preparing  her  winter- 
quarters.  Here  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to 
get  the  Enterprise  over  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor;  and  after  consulting  Avlth  Captains  Kellett 
and  Moore,  of  the  Herald  and  Plover,  Captain  Collin' 
son  sailed  for  Hong  Kong,  proposing  to  renew  the 
attem])t  to  get  north  in  the  spring. 

Meantime  the  Investigator,  having  outsailed  the 
Enterprise,  fell  in  with  the  Herald,  July  31st,  off 
Point  Hope,  niul  was  seen  by  the  Plover,  August  5th, 
1850.  in  Lit.  70°  44',  bearing  gallantly  to  the  north 
under  a  press  of  sail.  Nothing  further  was  heard 
of  MoClure  in  England  until  the  Autumn  of  1858, 

317 


■').! 


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I  ; 


4 


m\i 


I 


' 


! 


m 

'•!' 


318 


SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN. 


when  Lieut.  Cresswell,  of  the  Investigator,  arrived 
there  with  information  that  McCiui'e  and  his  crew 
had  reached  Beechey  Island,  having  discovered  the 
long  sought  for  North-west  passage. 

After  passing  Point  Barrow,  some  men  were  sent 
ashore  to  erect  a  cairn  and  bury  a  notice  that  the 
Investigator  had  passed.  They  were  met  by  three 
natives  who  gave  the  usual  distant  sign  of  friendship 
by  raising  their  arms  three  times  over  their  heads, 
and  when  in  close  proximity  the  less  agreeable  one  of 
rubbing  noses.  They  had  seen  the  masts  of  the 
Investigator  the  previous  evening  and  wondered  at 
the  sight,  thinking  them  to  be  trees  in  motion.  They 
were  very  friendly  but  could  give  no  information  of 
Franklin,  and  McClure  concluded  that  none  of  his 
crew  had  ever  been  in  that  vicinity.  "  The  natives," 
says  McClure,  "are  a  kind  and  merry  race,  and  when 
we  gave  them  presents,  we  told  them  that  we  were 
looking  for  our  lost  brothers,  and  if  they  saw  any 
white  men  in  distress,  the^  were  to  be  veiy  kind;  to 
which  they  assented  by  saying  that  they  would,  and 
would  give  them  plenty  of  deer's  flesh." 

On  the  10th  of  August,  Colville  River  Was  passed, 
and  the  color  of  its  waters  was  discernible  at  a  dis- 
tance of  ten  miles  from  the  shore.  The  Es(|uimanx 
were  numerous  about  the  mouth  of  this  river  and 
apparently  had  never  seen  white  men  before,  as  they 
manifested  great  curiosity  and  had  no  articles  of 
European  manufacture.  They  were  eager  for  traffic, 
sharp  at  a  bargain,  and  not  slow  in  thieving.  Seeing 
some  of  the  sailors  cutting  tobacco  in  pieces  to  give 
in  exchange  for  salmon  trout,  they  began  to  cut  the 
fish  also  into  pieces,  and  while  McClure  ^vas  placing 
a  present  in  the  right  hand  of  the  chief,  he  felt  the 


CRUISE   OF  THE   INVESTIGATOR. 


319 


fellow's  left  hand  picl<ing  his  pocket.  The  chief 
laughed  heartily  when  detected,  and  seemed  to  think 
it  no  crime. 

On  the  21st  of  Aug.,  the  Investigator  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  liiver,  and  soon  afterward 
reached  AVarren  Point.  As  sonn?  mitives  were  here 
seen  on  shore,  a  boat  put  off  with  dispatches  which 
McClui'e  Avished  to  have  forwardetl  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company's  posts  on  this  river.  Instead  of  making 
the  usual  fi'iendly  sign  the  natives  waved  off  the 
boats  with  the  most  menacing  gestures,  and  Avere 
only  pacified  when  the  interpreter,  in  full  native 
costume,  explained  the  object  of  the  Investigator.  It 
was  found  that  these  Estpiimaux  had  no  intercourse 
with  those  on  the  Mackenzie,  being  at  war  with  them. 
A  brass  button  suspended  from  the  ear  of  one  of  the 
chiefs  excited  much  curiosity,  and  he  told  this  story 
of  its  history :  It  had  belonged  to  a  white  man  who 
had  been  killed  by  a  native.  The  stranger  was  one 
of  a  party  which  had  landed  at  Point  Warren  and 
there  built  a  house,  and  then  gone  inland.  The  man 
killed  had  strryed  from  his  companions,  and  the  chief 
and  his  son  had  buried  him  ui)on  a  hill  at  a  little 
distance.  McClure  '.nvestigated  this  matter  thoroughly, 
hut  could  not  ascertain  when  the  murder  was  com- 
mitted, nor  find  the  grave.  He  found,  however,  the 
remnants  of  two  huts,  Avhich  appeared  to  have  been 
built  long  before  Franklin's  expedition  set  out. 

All  along  this  coast  the  natives  were  at  first  hostile, 
but  invariably  became  friendly  after  a  little  manen- 
vering  on  the  part  of  the  interpi-eter,  avIio  generally 
succeeded  in  so  in<i:ratiatin£:  himself  that  the  Avhite 
men  were  treated  kindly  and  often  invited  to  partake 
of  native  hospitality.   Arctic  delicacies,  such  as  salmon, 


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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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► 

Hiotogi'aphic 

Sdences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y    MS80 

(716)  872-4S03 


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920 


8EARCUBS   FOB   FRANKLIN. 


venison  and  blubber,  were  liberally  bestowed  upon 
the  officers  and  crew.  The  interpreter  so  won  over 
one  old  chief,  that  he  was  invited  to  remain  with  tlie 
tribe  forever ;  as  an  inducement  for  him  to  do  so,  the 
chief's  daughter,  a  pretty  damsel  of  fifteen  years, 
was  propounded  as  a  wife,  with  a  dowry  of  a  tent 
and  a  complete  fitting  out  in  the  highest  Esf^uimaux 
style. 

On  the  0th  of  Sejitember,  high  land  was  discovered 
to  the  northeast.  Hitherto  the  Investigator  had  been 
sailing  along  a  shore  which  had  been  ti-aver.sed  by 
Franklin,  Back,  Simpson,  and  others,  on  foot  and  in 
boats ;  but  the  land  which  now  appeared  on  tlie  left 
was  terra  incinjuita.  McClure  therefore  hove  anchor, 
and  on  landing  took  formal  possession  in  the  name  of 
Queen  Victoria,  calling  it  "Baring's Island."  It  was 
afterwards  discovered  that  they  did  not  land  on  an 
island,  but  on  the  southern  shore  )f  Bank's  Land. 
The  name  of  the  coast  was  accordingly  changed  to 
Baring's  Land.      '      ,    '  •    i 

McChire  now  sailed  along  the  easterly  coast  of 
Bank's  Land,  up  Prince  of  Wales  Strait,  and  on  the 
17th  of  September  was  within  thirty  miles  of  Melville 
Sound,  whose  waters  connect  with  Barrow's  Strait 
and  Lancaster  Sound.  Here  in  latitude  7.'{*^  10'  and 
longitude  117''  10'  the  ice  in  which  the  ship  wjia  be- 
set ceased  to  drift  to  the  nortli,  new  ice  began  to 
form,  and  everything  indicated  that  the  Investigator 
was  fixed  for  the  winter.  Soon  afterward,  however, 
the  ship  was  carried  by  a  tumultuous  drift  of  the  ice 
thirty  miles  to  the  south,  and  on  the  L'Hth,  was  again 
swept  northward  in  close  proximity  to  tlie  cliffs  of 
Princess  Royal  Island.  These  cliifs  rise  ])ei'jH'ndicu- 
|arly  fi'om  the  sea  to  a  height  of  foui*  hundred  feet, 


I 


DISCOVERY   OF  THE  NORTH-WEST  PASSAGE. 


321 


and  as  the  ship  drifted  towards  them  one  old  sailor 
remarked  to  a  comrade : — "  The  old  craft  will  double 
up  like  an  old  basket  when  she  gets  alongside  of  them 
rocks." 

But  a  kind  Providence  saved  the  vessel,  and  she 
was  swe])t  past  the  island  without  striking  the  cliffs, 
and  on  the  3()th  of  September  brought  up  near  the 
advanced  position  which  she  had  reached  on  the  17th ; 
and  hei-e  the  crew  of  the  Investigator  passed  the 
winter  of  1850-51. 

On  the  21st  of  October,  1850,  McClure  with  six 
men  and  a  sledge  started  in  the  direction  of  Melville 
Sound.  On  the  24th  a  cape  wjvs  seen  in  the  distance 
towards  which  their  course  was  directed,  an<l  on  the 
night  of  the  25th  they  encamped  only  two  miles  from 
it. 

The  next  day  opened  with  a  cloudless  sky,  and 
McClure  started  early,  hoping  to  obtain  sight  of  a  sea 
which  would  connect  his  discoveries  with  those  of 
Parry.  At  an  altitude  of  six  hundred  feet  above  ihe 
water-level,  he  impatiently  waited  for  light  enough  to 
discover  whether  the  long  sought  North-west  ])assage 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  had  been  found. 

As  the  sun's  light  increased  the  outline  of  the  chores 
became  distinctly  visible.  Bank's  Land  terminated 
about  twelve  miles  away.  At  the  north  lay  the 
frozen  waters  of  Melville  Sound,  and  the  eyes  of  the 
eagei-  beholders  embraced  a  distance  which  })recluded 
the  jmssibility  of  any  land  lying  in  that  direction 
between  them  and  Melville  Island.  McClure  was 
satisHed  that  he  had  discovered  the  North-west  pas- 
sage ;  he  named  the  hill  from  which  he  gazed  Mount 
Observation,  and  ascertained  that  it  was  in  latitude 
73*^  30',  and  longitude  114"  39'.    From  a  point  in 


i 


ii 


A' 


W  ■! 


322 


SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN. 


f    i 


Melville.  Sound  to  be  seen  from  Mount  Observation, 
Parry  had  sailed  eastward  into  Baffin's  Bay  and  thence 
home ;  and  McCIure  had  sailed  easterly  from  Bering's 
Sti'jiit  almost  to  Parry's  starting  point  and  into  \vatei*s 
connecting  therewith.  The  great  problem  for  the 
solution  of  which  so  many  Arctic  explorers  had  risked 
their  lives  was  now  solved.         '  '     '  • 

A  large  cairn  was  erected,  a  record  of  the  discovery 
placed  therein,  and  then  came  the  fatiguing  return 
journey  to  the  Investigator,  during  which  McClure 
came  near  perishing.  When  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  Investigator  he  pushed  on  ahead  of  his  paity  who 
were  slowly  drawing  the  sledge,  that  he  might  tell 
his  comrades  the  glorious  news ;  but  night  overtook 
him  ere  he  reached  the  vessel,  and  with  it  came  a 
dense  mist  which  obscured  everything.  He  pushed 
on,  guiding  his  course  by  the  direction  of  the  wind, 
until  repeated  falls  over  the  rough  ice  admonished 
him  of  the  dano;er  of  broken  bones. 

"  I  now  climbed,"  says  McClure,  "  on  a  mass  of 
squeezed-up  ice  in  the  hope  of  seeing  my  party,  siiould 
they  pass  near,  or  of  attracting  the  attention  of  some 
one  on  board  the  vessel  by  firing  my  fowling-])iece. 
Unfortunately  I  had  no  other  ammunition  than  what 
it  was  loaded  with.  After  waiting  for  an  hour 
patiently,  I  was  rejoiced  to  see  through  the  mist  the 
glare  of  a  blue  light,  evidently  burnt  in  the  direction 
in  wiiich  I  had  left  the  sledge.  I  immediately  fired 
to  denote  my  position,  but  my  fire  was  unobserved, 
and  both  barrels  being  discharge<l  I  was  unahle  to 
repeat  the  signal.  My  only  ho[)e  now  rested  on  the 
ship's  answering,  but  nothing  was  to  be  seen,  and 
theie  seemed  no  j^robability  of  my  having  any  other 
iheiter  fur  the  night  that  what  the  floe  afforded. 


MoCLUBe's   NiaUT  ADVENllJKE. 


323 


"  It  was  now  half-past  eight.  There  were  eleven 
hours  of  night  before  me,  a  temperature  15*  below 
zero,  ])ear8  prowling  about,  and  I  with  an  unloaded 
gun  in  my  liands.  The  sledge  party  might,  however, 
reach  thj  ship,  and,  finding  I  had  not  arrived,  search 
would  ')e  made  and  help  be  sent ;  so  I  walked  to  and 
fro  upon  my  hummock  until,  I  suppose,  it  must  have 
been  ehiven  o'clock,  when  that  hope  fled  likewise. 
Descending  from  the  top  of  the  slab  of  ice  upon  a\  hich 
I  had  clambered,  I  found  under  its  lee  a  famous  bed 
of  soft,  dry  snow,  and  thoroughly  tired  out,  I  threw 
myself  upon  it  and  slept  for  j)erhaps  three  hours, 
when  uj)on  opening  my  eyes,  I  fancied  I  saw  the  flash 
of  a  rocket.  Jumping  ui)on  my  feet  I  found  that  the 
mist  had  cleared  off,  and  that  the  stai-s  and  aurora 
l)()realis  were  shining  in  all  the  splendoi*  of  an  Arctic 
night.  Although  unable  to  see  the  islands  or  the 
ship,  I  wandered  about  the  ice  in  different  directions 
until  daylight,  when,  to  my  great  mortification,  I 
fmind  I  had  passed  the  ship  fully  the  distance  of  four 
mih.'s." 

]\IcClure  finally  reached  the  Investigator  ])efore  the 
jirrival  of  the  sledge-party,  and  great  was  tlie  rejoicing 
on  board  at  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  the  Xorth- 
^ve8t  ]iassage. 

During  the  winter  and  spring,  sledge-parties  were 
sent  out  in  various  directions,  but  no  traces  of  Fi'ank- 
lin  were  found  and  no  imj)ortant  geographical  discov- 
eries made.  Reindeer,  musk-ox  and  other  animals 
were  occasionally  met  with  all  througli  the  long  Arc- 
tic night,  and  McClure  concluded  that  it  was  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  these  inhabitants  of  the  Arctic  Archi- 
pelago migrated  south  to  avoid  the  extreme  cold  of 
the  winters. 


;  t 


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824 


8EARCTIE8   FOR   FUANKLIN. 


In  July,  1851,  the  ice-floe  in  wbicli  the  ship  Imd 
rested  began  to  break  up,  and  on  the  17th  the  whip 
was  once  more  free.  But  she  enjoyed  her  liberty  for 
only  a  short  time,  being  soon  captured  by  the  pack- 
ice  and  again  curried  back  and  forth  through  Prince 
of  Wales  St  ait  as  on  the  previous  year.  The  situa- 
tion was  aggravating  in  the  extreme.  At  times  only 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  separated  McCluie  and  his 
crew  from  an  open  sea,  through  which,  if  they  could 
only  reach  it,  they  might  sail  to  Baffin's  Bay  and 
England  the  same  summer.  The  alternative  was  to 
pass  another  gloomy  and  hazardous  winter  amid  the 
ice.  .  :     .,..;■;   ■   .<•     ',, 

But  all  attempts  to  get  the  ship  further  to  the 
north-east  than  it  was  diifted  by  the  ice  [troved 
unsuccessful ;  and  it  turned  out  that  the  North-west 
passage  was  not  much  of  a  passage  after  all,  so  far  as 
the  Investigator  was  concerned.  The  great  trouble 
was,  that  an  ice-bridge  several  miles  in  length 
obstructed  the  way.  i>  >     ;-. .     ,  i   ' 

McClure  now  decided  to  retrace  his  steps  if  possible 
to  the  southerly  point  of  Banks'  Land  and  to  sail  up 
its  western  coast.  In  this  attempt  he  was  so  success- 
ful, that  on  the  19th  of  August  he  had  i)assed  Point 
Kellett,  and  was  raj)idly  i)r(>gressing  northward 
through  a  lane  of  open  water  nearly  five  miles  wide. 
Soon  after  this  the  lead  became  veiy  narrow  and 
much  obstructed  by  floating  ice,  while  the  j>ack,  be- 
tween which  and  a  precij)itous  coast  they  were  sail- 
ing, was  of  fearful  thickness — extending  fifty  feet 
below  the  water,  which  was  very  deep,  and  rising  in 
places  into  hills  a  hundred  feet  high.  The  situation 
was  full  of  peril,  for  had  the  ice  set  towards  tlie 
abrupt  cliffs  along  which  they  were  sailing,  nothing 
could  have  saved  the  ship. 


LIFE  AT  MBROT  BAY. 


326 


On  the  20th  of  August,  the  Investigator  was  fast 
l)etween  the  ice  and  the  beach  at  the  north-west  cor- 
ner of  Banks'  Land,  and  remained  so  till  the  29th, 
when  the  immense  floe  to  which  she  had  been  fastened 
was  raised  edgeways  out  of  the  water  by  the  crowding 
of  the  suiTounding  ice,  and  lifted  perpendicularly 
some  thirty  feet  close  to  the  ship's  bows.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  ship  must  capsize,  and  had  the  ice  toppled 
over,  as  appeared  likely,  it  would  have  sunk  her. 
But  the  floe,  after  frightful  oscillations,  righted  itself 
and  drifted  onward.  At  another  time  the  wreck  of 
the  Investigator  seemed  certain,  and  all  that  MeClure 
could  hope  for  was  "  that  the  ship  might  be  thrown 
uj)  sufticiently  to  serve  as  an  asylum  for  the  winter." 

At  length  on  the  24th  of  SeptemT)er,  the  ex^jlorei-s 
drifted  into  a  large  bay  on  the  northern  shores  of 
Banks'  Land,  where  they  found  a  secure  harbor,  and 
here  they  passed  the  winter.  In  gratitude  for  past 
deliverances  ]\IcClure  called  the  place  Mercy  Bay. 
Game  was  abundant,  and  hunting  jiarties  rambled 
over  the  hills  almost  daily  throughout  the  winter, 
excepting  when  prevented  by  occasional  snow-storms, 
or  when  it  was  too  dark  for  shootini'.  Some  of  the 
hills  were  three  hinidred  feet  high  with  wild  and 
picturesque  g<u'ges  between  them.  On  their  sides 
abuiulance  of  wood  was  found,  and  in  many  places 
layers  of  trees  were  visil)le,  some  ])rotruding  a  dozen 
feet.  One  of  the  largest  of  these  trunks  measured 
nineteen  inches  in  diameter. 

The  hunters  met  with  various  adventures,  and  one 
poor  negro  followed  a  wounded  deer  so  far  that  he 
hecame  bewildered  and  could  not  retiace  his  steps, 
lie  was  so  frightened  out  of  his  senses,  that  when 
found  he  stood  ciying,  fancying  himself  frozen  to 


•  H 


)i 


■i-r. 


826 


SEAKC1IE8   FOE    FRANKLIN. 


death,  and  could  not  be  induced  to  make  any  exer- 
tion to  return.  In  spite  of  his  prayer  to  be  let  alone 
to  die,  his  comrade  carried  and  rolled  liim  down  tlie 
hills  to  the  ship,  where  he  soon  recovered  his  strength 
and  senses. 

In  April,  1852,  a  sledge  journey  was  made  across 
Banks'  Strait  to  Winter  Harbor  on  Melville  Island, 
where  Parrv  had  wintered.  Here  a  cairn  was  found 
containing  information  that  Lieut.  McClintock  of  the 
Intrepid  had  been  there  on  a  previous  summer.  In 
this  same  cairn  McClure  deposited  a  notice  of  liis  own 
visit,  and  of  the  situation  of  the  Investigator  at 
Mercy  Bay.  Tliis  information  subsequently  led  to 
the  rescue  of  himself  and  crew. 

During  the  summer  of  1852  the  scurvy  made  its 
appearance  among  the  crew.  On  the  1st  of  July  six 
of  the  men  were  confined  by  it  to  their  beds,  and 
numbers  more  began  to  feel  its  symptoms.  To  add 
to  their  troubles  the  summer  proved  a  very  cold  one, 
and  before  the  close  of  July  it  became  pretty  manifest 
that  the  Investigator  must  spend  another  long  winter's 
night  in  her  present  moorings.  The  grip  of  the  ice 
was  worse  than  the  grip  of  the  Tartar.  During  July 
and  August  the  crew  were  daily  employed  in  gather- 
ing sorrel  which  grew  in  the  vicinity ;  eaten  as  a  salad 
or  boiled,  it  was  found  to  be  a  most  valuable  aiitiscor- 
butic,  and  proved  an  efficient  medicine  for  the  scurvy 
patients.  Sledging  parties  were  also  sent  out  in  hopes 
to  accomplish  the  great  mission  of  the  Investigator — 
the  finding  of  Franklin  ;  but  not  a  trace  of  his  party 
was  discovered. 

"  Although,"  says  McClure,  "  we  had  already  been 
twelve  months  upon  two-thirds  allowance,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  preparations  for  meeting  eighteen 


the  shi 
of  the  : 
m  great 
ger  witi 
he  saw 
those  di 
resource 

So    J) 

spring 
for  carr} 
decided 
officei's 
liberate 


FT 


RELIEF   AT   HAND. 


827 


months  more ;  a  very  severe  depriv/vtion  and  constitu- 
tionul  test,  but  one  which  the  service  we  were  enii)loy- 
ed  upon  called  for,  the  vessel  heing  as  sound  as  the 
day  she  entered  the  ice;  it  would,  therefore,  be  dis- 
creditable to  desert  her  in  1858,  when  a  favorable 
season  would  run  her  through  the  straits  and  admit  of 
reaching  England  in  safety,  where  the  successful 
achievement  of  the  long-sought-for  and  almost  liope- 
less  discovery  of  the  Noith-west  passage  would  be 
received  with  a  satisfaction  that  would  amply  com- 
pensate for  the  sacrifices  made  and  hardshi])s  endured 
in  its  most  trying  and  tedious  accomplishment." 

In  November  the  ship  was  housed  over,  and  l)anl<ed 
up  with  ice  and  snow,  and  preparations  completed 
for  spending  a  second  winter  at  Mercy  Bay.  The 
crew  kej)t  up  their  s|)irits;  hunting  was  again  the 
order  of  the  day  ;  and  deer,  hares,  and  ptarmigan  were 
plenty.  Christmas  was  celebrated  with  great  echif, 
and  all  vied  to  make  it  a  cheerful  and  liappy  one. 
Each  mess  was  gayly  illuminated,  and  decorated  with 
original  jtaintings  by  the  lower-deck  artist,  exhibiting 
the  ship  in  her  perihms  positions  during  the  ti-ansit 
of  the  Polar  Sea,  and  divers  other  subjects.  Dainties 
in  great  profusion  gi'aced  the  lower  deck,  and  a  stran- 
ger witnessing  the  scene  would  hardly  suppose  that 
he  saw  a  crew  which  had  passed  over  t\vo  years  in 
those  dreary  regions,  depending  entirely  on  their  own 
resources. 

So  passed  away  the  winter  of  1S52-8;  and  when 

spring  came  the  men  were  all  making  preparations 

for  carrying  out  a  plan  which  ISEcClure  had  previously 

decided  on.     One-half  of  the  crew  and  some  of  the 

officers  were  to  remain  with  the  ship  and  endeavor  to 

liberate  it  during  the  summer.     The  rest  of  the  men 

20 


.1  1 


i\ 


I  : 


:i  ; 


1 


328 


seahciiej^  rou  franklin. 


were  to  start  for  England — a  part  by  way  of  Macken- 
zie River  and  Canada,  and  a  part  by  way  of  Baffin's 
Bay.  All  Avere  sad  at  the  prospect  of  separation,  for 
the  sojourn  and  the  journeys  were  alike  full  of  gloom, 
and  the  death,  April  5th,  of  a  comrade  who  had  pois- 
oned himself,  added  to  the  general  depression  of  spii'its. 
But  unexpected  relief  was  at  hand,  and  its  an'ival  can 
be  best  described  in  McClure's  own  woi'ds : — 

"  While  walking  near  the  ship,  in  conversation  with 
the  first  lieutenant  upon  the  subject  of  digging  a  grare 
for  the  man  who  died  yesterday,  and  discussing  how 
we  could  cut  a  grave  in  the  ground  whilst  it  was  so 
hardly  frozen,  wcf  perceived  a  figure  walking  I'apidly 
towards  us  from  the  rough  ice  at  the  enti-ance  of  the 
bay.  From  his  pace  and  gestures  we  both  naturally 
supposed,  at  first,  that  he  was  some  one  of  our  party 
pursued  by  a  bear ;  but,  as  we  approached  him,  doubts 
arose  us  to  who  it  could  be.  He  was  certainly  unlike 
any  of  our  men  ;  but,  recollecting  that  it  was  possible 
some  one  might  be  trying  a  new  traveling-dress  pre- 
])aratory  to  the  departure  of  our  sledges,  and  certaiij 
that  no  one  else  was  near,  we  continued  to  advance. 

"  When  within  about  two  hundred  yards  of  us,  the 
strange  figure  threw  up  his  arms,  and  made  gesticula- 
tions resembling  those  used  by  Esquimaux,  besides 
shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice  words  which,  fimn 
the  wind  and  intense  excitement  of  the  moment, 
sounded  like  a  wild  screech :  and  this  brought  us  both 
fairly  to  a  stand-still.  The  stranger  came  quietly  on, 
and  we  saw  thathis  face  was  as  black  (from  lamp-smoke) 
as  ebony ;  and  really,  at  the  moment,  we  iniglit  be 
pardoned  for  wondering  whether  he  was  a  denizen 
of  this  or  the  other  world ;  as  it  was,  Ave  gallantly 
stood  our  ground,  and,  had  the  skies  fallen  upon  us, 


TIIE   INVE8TIOATOB   DESERTED. 


829 


we  could  hardly  have  been  more  astonished  than 
when  the  dark-faced  stranger  called  out,  Tm  Lieu- 
tenant Pini,  late  of  the  Herald,  and  now  in  the  Reso- 
lute.    Captain  Kellett  is  in  her,  at  Dealy  Island.' 

"  To  ruHh  at  and  seize  him  by  the  hand  was  the 
fii-st  impulse,  for  the  heart  was  too  full  for  the  tongue 
to  speak.  The  announcement  of  relief  being  close  at 
hand,  when  none  Mas  supposed  to  be  even  within  the 
Arctic  Circle,  was  too  sudden,  unexpected,  and  joyous, 
for  oui'  niin<ls  to  comi)rehend  it  at  once.  The  news 
flew  with  lightning  rapidity  ;  the  ship  was  all  in  com- 
motion ;  the  sick,  forgetful  of  their  maladies,  leaped 
from  their  hammocks ;  the  artificers  dropped  their 
tools,  and  the  lower  deck  Avas  cleared  of  men  ;  for 
they  all  rushed  for  the  hatchway,  to  be  assured  that 
a  stranger  was  actually  among  them,  and  that  his  tale 
was  ti'ue.  Despondency  fled  thoship,  and  Lieut.  Pirn 
received  a  welcome — pure,  lieaHy,  and  grateful — that 
lie  A\  ill  surely  remember  and  cherish  to  the  end*  of  his 
days." 

Lieut.  Pirn's  companions  on  this  journey  sov^n 
arrived  at  the  shij),  with  the  Fitzjamea,  a  small 
sledge  drawn  by  dogs.  On  the  8th  of  April  they  set 
out  to  ivturn  to  the  Keaolute,  accomjianied  ])y  ]\IcClure 
and  some  of  his  men,  and  reached  their  shi])  on  the 
lOtli.  On  the  2d  of  May,  an  officer  arrived  from  the 
Investigator  witli  news  of  the  death  of  two  more  of 
her  crew.  McClure,  Avith  the  sui-geon  of  the  Resolute, 
then  returned  to  his  ship,  intending  to  send  home  all 
the  crew  Avho  Avei'e  unfitted  for  service,  and  to  allow 
such  others  as  Avished  to  accompany  them  to  do  so. 
Witli  the  balance  he  hoped  to  save  his  vessel ;  but 
on  consulting  the  creAv  only  four  Avere  willing  to 
remain,  although  all  the  officers  volunteered  to  stand 


ri 


If 


!; 


> 


;,v!' 


s 


iS' 


■,l 


=     I 


330 


8EAUCIIHS    von   KKANKLIX, 


by  their  nliip.  After  landing  Itonts  and  stores  for  f!io 
use  of  Colliiison,  Franklin,  or  any  other  explon'r,  the 
colors  were  hoisted  to  the  main-nuist  on  the  3(1  of 
June,  18r)3,  and  the  oftieers  and  crew,  in  all  sixty 
rr.en,  bade  farewell  to  the  gallant  Investigator  and 
started  for  Dealy  Island. 

Aft-r  sharing  the  foHunes  of  Captain  Kcllett's 
slii[)s,  the  IJcsolnte  an<l  Intrepid,  until  A})ril,  ]H')4, 
Cap+  in  jNfcChire  and  his  men  started  with  sledge^, 
for  lieechey  Island,  where  they  took  np  (pinrtcrs  on 
the  North  Star.  When  that  ship,  later  in  the  season, 
sailed  for  England  with  the  crews  of  five  desertetl 
vessels,  the  brave  discoverers  of  a  North-west  jkis- 
sage  were  among  the  number. 

It  will  be  remenibered  by  the  reader,  that  raiit.iiii 
Collinson  of  the  Enter[)rise,  not  succeeding  in  filtering 
the  Polar  Sea  in  the  fall  of  IS"))),  went  to  Hong  Kong 
to  winter.  In  ISol  he  sailed  north,  doubU'd  Point 
Barrow,  and  f(dlowing  the  track  of  the  Investigator 
through  the  Continental  Channel  and  uj)  Pi-lnce  of 
AVales  Strait,  jjenetrated  a  few  niiles  fnrther  noith  than 
McClure  had  gone.  But  as  no  passage  through  the 
ice  could  be  found,  he  sailed  southerly  and  passed  the 
winter  of  18r)l-2  at  Walker's  l?ay,  <»n  tlu;  eastern 
side  (»f  the  entrance  of  Prince  of  AVales  Strait.  Search 
exjx'ditions  were  sent  out,  and  portions  of  Banks' 
Land,  Albert  Land,  and  Victoria  Land  examined. 

During  the  next  sunnner,  Collinson  took  his  ship 
southerly  and  easterly  through  Dolphin  and  Union 
Strait  and  Dease  Strait,  and  passed  the  winter  of  IH")- 
-3  at  Cambridge  Bay,  on  the  southern  coast  of  N  ic- 
toria  Land.  From  this  point  sledge  parties  wei-e  sent 
out  to  explore  the  western  shoi'es  of  Victoria  Strait. 
Had  they  crossed  this  Strait  to  King  William's  Lund, 


RKCKNT    DEATH    OF   MoCLURE. 


331 


tlroir  scarcli  for  trnoos  of  the  lost  explorers  would  have 
heeii  iiiorc!  succcHsfiil. 

liciiii^  imal)le  to  fonu'  jmssat^e  tliroiigli  the  ice  to 
tlie  eastward  the  next  M-asoii,  Collinson  started  for 
lieriii^'s  Strait,  Imt  *^io  Knterpris*!  wan  cauglit  in  the 
iee  lu't'ore  reacjiiug  i  (tint  Uarv,>\v,  and  n  thii-d  winter 
was  ])assi'd  on  tlu?  noith.i-u  coast  of  Anieriea. 

The  exi)l(tits  of  IVtrUlure  were  duly  appreeiatcil  l»y 
his  eouiitrynien.  lie  re<'eived  the  hon*^:  •■  of  kniglit- 
hood,  and  his  comniission  as  Cajtt.'i'ii  was  <lated  Itm'k 
to  the  day  when,  from  a  liill  on  Hanks'  Land,  lie 
gazed  on  a  continuous  ocean.  Oold  medals  were 
awarded  to  him  hy  the  English  antl  Fi-t^nch  (feograjdii- 
cal  Societies,  and  a  select  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  resolved  that  the  officers  and  crew  of  the 
Investigator  "])erformed  deeds  of  heroism  which, 
though  n<tt  accomjtanied  l)y  the  excitement  and  the 
gloiy  of  the  battlefield,  yet  rival  in  bravi'ry  and 
devotion  to  duty,  the  highest  ami  most  successful 
achievement  of  war,"  A  reward  of  £10,000  was 
granted  to  them  as  a  token  of  national  ai)prol>ation. 

The  recent  death  of  Sir  Robert  IMcClure,  which 
occurred  October  17th,  1873,  has  occasioned  an  ill- 
timed  controversy  as  to  who  is  entitled  to  the  honor 
of  Jirst  discovering  a  North-west  ])assage.  Lady 
Frauklii),  mi  a  letter  to  the  Times  jjublished  "before 
McCluiv's  old  comrades  had  had  time  to  turn  from 
the  grave  of  the  gicat  explorer,"  claims  the  honor 
for  the  last  survivors  of  her  husband's  expedition. 
The  question  is  not  a  new  one,  but  its  discussion  has 
been  generally  avoided  by  most  of  the  Arctic  writers, 
as  they  have  felt  that  Franklin  and  McClure,  if  living, 
would  have  no  dis])ute  about  so  small  a  matter. 


m 

If 


i 


m 


,1 


u 


iff 


w 


lis 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
SEARCHES  FOR  Sm  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(second   CRmSE   OF  TIIE   PRDTCE   ALBERT.) 

The  return  of  the  Prince  Albert  in  the  fall  of  1850 
with  relies  of  Franklin's  party  gave  encouragement 
for  a  continuation  of  the  search  ;  and  on  the  .'Ul  of 
June,  1851,  the  same  vessel  again  sailed  for  Prince 
Regent's  Inlet.  Captain  Wm.  Kennedy,  formerly  of 
the  Hudson's  Ray  Company,  commanded  the  schooner, 
and  was  assisted  by  Lieut.  J.  Bellot,  an  energetic  and 
lively  young  officer  of  the  French  navy,  whose  love 
of  adventure  led  him  to  offer  his  services  to  Lady 
Franklin. 

The  crew  were  all  picked  men,  and  incbuhjd  John 
Hepburn,  Franklin's  faithful  attendant  on  his  first 
overland  journey,  and  other  Arctic  travelers.  Never 
was  a  vessel  manned  with  a  more  gallant  or  niorj 
resolute  comj'any.  Lady  Franklin  herself  was  ju-esent 
to  cheer  and  encourage  the  adventurers,  as  with  the 
English  flag  at  the  peak,  and  the  French  flag,  as  n 
compliment  to  Bellot,  at  the  fore,  tlie  Prince  Albert 
went  forth  amid  the  prayers  and  best  wishes  of  all 
England. 

On  arriving  at  the  entrance  !o  Prince  Regent's 
Inlet  that  channel  was  found  to  be  much  obstructed 

332 


A  NIGHT  AT  CAPE  8EPPINQ8. 


333 


by  ice;  but  Kennedy  pushed  boldly  in,  and  pene- 
trated southerly  along  the  western  coast  as  far  aa 
Fury  Point.  lie  was  obliged,  however,  to  beat  a 
hasty  retreat,  to  escape  being  crushed  by  the  ice  which 
began  to  drift  toward  the  shore,  and  took  refuge  at 
Poi't  Bowen  on  the  eastern  coast. 

To  winter  at  this  place  while  all  their  searches 
were  to  be  made  on  the  western  shore,  was  an  idea 
not  to  be  considered  ]>y  Kennedy  and  Bellot.  Accord- 
ingly on  the  0th  of  September  the  attempt  to  find  a 
harbor  on  the  west  side  was  renewed ;  and  when  near 
Port  Leopold,  Kennedy  with  four  men  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  shore,  and  on  ascending  the  cliffs  of 
Cape  Sej)pings,  discovered  that  Port  Leopold  was 
free  from  ice  and  Avould  afford  a  good  winter  harbor 
for  the  Prince  Albert  if  it  could  be  reached. 

Descending  to  the  shore,  what  was  their  consterna- 
tion on  finding  that  the  narrow  lane  through  which 
they  had  rowed  their  gutta-percha  boat  was  com- 
pletely closed,  and  that  the  whole  pack  was  drifting 
down  the  inlet,  carrying  the  ship  with  it.  Little 
could  be  seen  or  heard  but  the  tossing,  roaring  and 
grliuling  of  huge  masses  of  ice.  Night  was  coming 
on,  and  to  reach  the  ship  was  impossible.  Nothing 
could  be  done  but  to  make  themselves  as  comfortable 
for  the  night  as  frozen  clothts  and  cold  winds  would 
allow.  The  boat  was  hauled  up  on  shore,  and  under 
its  shelter,  but  wltliout  Idankets  or  coverings  of  any 
kind,  Kennedy  and  liis  men  made  the  best  of  their 
situation.  No  one  was  permitted  to  sleep  but  an 
hour  at  a  time  for  fear  of  being  frozen. 

With  the  dawn  of  day  the  shivering  party  ascended 
the  highest  cliff  of  Caj»e  Seppings  and  strained  their 
eyes  in  search  of  the  Prince  Albert.     Not  a  sign  of 


,i   1 


I 


.  ;t 


■it:' 

'I' 

(I 
i'i' 


I 


)' 


\k 


SEARCHES   FOR    FRANKLIN. 


the  vessel  was  to  be  seen ;  aiul  here  they  were,  alone 
on  a  Lleak  coast  at  the  coniinencenient  of  an  An-tic 
winter,  without  shelter,  provisions  or  fuel,  and  man- 
tily  clad.  Fortunately,  Kennedy  Avas  aware  that  two 
years  before  Sir  James  Ross  had  made  a  depot  of  pro- 
visions at  Whaler  Point  on  the  other  side  of  tlie  liar- 
bor.  To  this  depot  the  little  company  directed  their 
way,  and  Avei'e  o\-erjoyed  to  find  plenty  of  provi.sions 
and  the  canvas  hut  which  Koss  had  ei'ccted. 

"■It  was  now,"  says  Kennedy,  "the  Kith  t)f  Scptcin. 
ber.  AVinter  was  evidently  fast  setting  in,  and,  fi(»iii 
the  distance  the  ship  had  been  carried  durinj^tliat  dis- 
astrous night  (whether  out  to  sea  or  down  the  inlet  we 
could  not  conjecture)  there  was  no  Intpe  of  our  being 
able  to  rejoin  her,  at  least  during  the  present  season. 
Tliere  remained,  therefore,  no  altei'uative  but  to  make 
up  our  minds  to  pass  the  winter,  if  necessaiy,  where 
we  were.  The  first  object  to  be  attended  to  was  the 
erecting  of  some  sort  of  shelter  against  the  daily  in- 
creasing inclemency  of  the  weather;  and  for  this  pur- 
])ose  the  launcli,  left  by  Sir  James  Iloss,  Avas  selected. 
Iler  mainnuist  was  laid  on  supports  at  tin'  bow  and 
stern,  about  nine  feet  in  height,  and  by  s])reading  two 
of  her  sails  over  this  a  very  tolerable  roof  was  oh- 
tained.  A  stove  was  .set  up  in  the  body  of  the  boat, 
with  the  pipes  running  through  the  roof;  and  we 
were  soon  sitting  by  a  comfortable  fire,  which,  after 
our  long  exj)osui'e  to  the  wet  and  cold,  we  stood  \  eiy 
nuieh  in  need  of." 

('ai>tain  Kennedy  was  not  the  man  to  sit  down  idle 
and  wait  for  something  to  turn  uj).  lb*  immediately 
began  devising  plans  for  futui'(^  operations.  The  first 
thing  was  to  search  for  the  Prince  Albert,  and  the 
second  was  to  hunt  for  Franklin.     Before  either     .o- 


bellot's  rescue  party. 


335 


ject  could  he  earned  out  it  was  necessary  to  jM-ovide 
some  additional  clothing  and  especially  shoes.  Ma- 
terial for  hoth  was  at  hand  in  the  shai)e  of  canvas, 
and  the  party  passed  their  days — Sundays  excepted 
— in  making  it  up.  To  their  credit,  be  it  said,  that 
their  Sabhaths  were  observed  strictly  as  holy  time, 
and  lie  who  had  so  wondtn-fully  preserved  them  in 
their  extremity  was  duly  honored. 

A\'hil«!  thus  busily  employed  in  preparations  for 
their  ex[)loring  expeditions  tlu  were  suddenly  star- 
tled, on  the  17th  of  October,  by  the  firing  -^f  a  ';v.n  in 
the  direction  of  Cape  Sep])ings.  Rushing  eagei-ly 
from  their  house  they  discovered  seven  of  the  Prince 
Albert's  men,  headed  by  Lieut.  Bellot,  who  had  come 
in  search  of  their  lost  ccMurades.  The  mutual  congrat- 
ulations and  thanksi'ivinfjs  can  be  better  imagined 
than  described.  Bellot  reported  that  the  Prince  Al- 
bert was  securely  moored  in  Batty  Bay,  and  that  he 
and  his  meu  had  come  up  on  the  ice,  di'agging  a  l)oat 
with  them  for  use  if  needed.  Bellot  had  made  two 
previous  attempts  to  reach  Port  Leopold,  but  had  bs-en 
baftlcfl  once  })■,  deep  snows,  and  airain  l>v  weakness  of 
the  ice,  thi-oui^h  which  the  sledi^e  bioke  and  was  lost. 

Five  weeks  had  elapsed  since  Bellot  had  taken 
Freiudi  leave  of  his  Ca})tain,  and  innvilliiigly  dril'ted 
off  in  the  Prince  Albert.  They  were  weeks  of  anx- 
iety, and  the  reaction  of  exuberant  feeling  was  great. 
The  night  was  spent  under  the  covering  of  the  old 
launch  and  her  boards  reverberated  with  sea  songs 
and  hearty  laughs,  while  the  lost  and  found  drank  hot 
chocolate  and  feasted  on  Arctic  dainties. 

On  the  2 2d  of  October  the  whole  party  set  out  for 
Batty  Bay,  drawing  provisions  and  Bellot's  boat  on 
a  sh'dgi'  made  for  the  occasion.     A  mast  Avas  erected 


I  f 


i    ■    ■   '■  ' 

\ 

^ 

1 

•      I     i 

;     ^   ,1 

':       ■    ■ 

I 

"i   ■<•    i 

\ 

i 

J- 

•      - 

\      \ 

I   . 

'    I              '. 

1 
f 

:  i\ 

J 

'  '-^^  '5 

!■ 

■    'M 

■      \    ■ 

[ 

..Mj 

.      1 

336 


SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN". 


!s; 


and  sails  set,  and  at  times,  when  the  ice  was  smooth 
and  the  wind  strong,  the  sledge,  bearing  all  the  trav- 
elers, sailed  off  with  great  rapidity.  Unfortunately, 
however,  it  broke  down  when  near  the  middle  of  the 
bay,  and  it  was  not  safe  to  spend  the  night  on  the 
treacherous  ice.  Darkness  overtook  them  before 
they  reached  land,  and  driving  snow  made  progress 
both  difficMilt  and  dangerous.  Cold  and  tired  they  at 
length  reached  a  flat  lime-rock,  where  the}'  Kj)read  a 
tent,  kindled  a  fire,  boiled  some  tea  and  made  merry. 

The  tent  proved  too  small  to  lodge  thirteen  men 
with  any  comfort  to  themselves,  and  Bellot,  Avliose 
tact  and  good  humor  were  unbounded,  resolved  "to 
make  a  nifjht  of  it."  Six  men  were  arran<xed  in  a 
sitting  posture  on  each  side  of  the  tent,  and  had  be- 
tween them  a  space  about  three  feet  wide  in  wliich  to 
accommodate  the  legs  of  the  twelve,  and  Ballot,  who 
chose  "a  middle  passage.'  All  efforts  to  sleep  were 
unsuccessful  and  songs  and  raen"iment  pi-evailed.  For 
the  want  of  a  candle-stick,  each  man  was  to  hold  the 
candle,  for  fifteen  minutes,  and  then  pass  it  to  his 
neiglil>()r.  The  candle  at  length  giving  oui,  tlio  men 
tried  to  get  a  little  rest,  but  Bellot's  jokes  were  too 
good  to  allow  it.  lie  afterward  referred  to  tlie  iiitrht 
on  the  lime-stone  rock,  as  one  of  enjoyment  on  a  solid 
foundati'  n.  Sleeping  in  a  tent  Mas  not  repeated,  but 
they  passed  several  comfortable  nights  in  snow  houses, 
and  on  arriving  at  the  ship  were  heartily  welcomed  by 
their  comrades. 

The  ensuing  winter  was  passed  in  the  ice  at  Batty 
Bay;  and  though  the  night  was  long  and  dark,  the 
cold  winds  howled  around,  and  the  drifting  snow  at 
times  obstructed  all  outdoor  exercise,  light,  warmth 
and  cheerfulness  prevailed  in  the  cabin  of  the  Priuce 


A   VISIT  TO   rUHY    UEACII. 


J^37 


Albert,  and  occasionally  a  mock-sun,  or  "suu-dog,"  dis- 
pelled the  gloom. 

On  the  oth  of  Januaiy  1852,  Kennedy,  Bellot,  and 
three  of  the  crew,  with  a  sledge  drawn  by  dogM,  stai-t- 
ed  on  an  (sxcui-sion  to  the  south.  An  they  ap[)roac]ied 
Fury  Beach  the  leaders  impatiently  i)ushed  on  ahead 
of  the  sledge,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  8th,  stood 
upon  the  spot  where  they  had  hoped  to  fiiul  some  of 
Franklin's  party.  "Every  object  distinguished  by 
the  moonlight  in  the  distance,"  says  Kennedy,  "be- 
came animated,  to  our  imaginations,  into  the  forms  of 
our  long-absent  countrymen ;  for,  had  they  been  im- 
prisoned anywhere  in  the  x\ictie  seas,  within  a  rea- 
sonable distance  of  Fury  Beach,  here,  we  felt  assured, 
some  of  them,  at  least,  would  have  been  now.  But, 
alas  for  these  fond  hopes  !  All  was  solitary  and  des- 
olate." 

"  Somerset  House  "  was  still  in  existence ;  with  sad- 
dened feelings  Kennedy  and  Bellot  entered  its  cheer- 
less apartments,  and  kindled  a  fire  in  the  same  stove 
which  warmed  the  crew  of  Sir  John  Ross  in  the  dreary 
winter  of  1832-3.  After  eating  their  suj)per,  they 
took  a  few  hours  repose ;  then  stai'ted  back  towards 
the  sledge  party,  and  all  returned    to  Batty  Bay. 

On  the  Soth  of  February,  Kennedy  again  started 
south,  with  live  men  e(iuipped  with  snow-shoes,  sledges 
and  (logs,  and  ^vas  ovei'taken  a  few  days  afterward 
at  Fury  Beach,  l)y  Bellot  witli  seven  men.  After 
drawing  largely  on  the  old  stores  of  the  ^^lry,  which 
were  al»undant  and  j^ood,  althouLch  thirty  years  had 
elapsed  since  they  were  left  thei'e,  the  whole  party 
started  southerly,  on  tlie  "grand  joui'ney,"  as  Bellot 
called  it.     On  arriving  at  Brentford  Bay,  eight  of  the 


^11 


ii 


'!! 


!■: 


ii 
i' 


1.1 


\u 


^i 


i. 


: 

^•1 

1    i 

;   j; 

'           i 

i   1' 
i  ■  ■ 

U\ 

.i 


j  I   *    Ii  III:] 

it 


it 


-tin   i 


338 


SEARCHES   FOR   FRANKLIN. 


men  were  sent  bad:,  and  six  men,  with  sledges  drawn 
by  ilogs,  continued  the  exploi'ations. 

Near  this  bay  a  strait  running  westward  was  found, 
whioli  was  named  Bellot  Strait.  It  separated  North 
Somerset  from  Bootliia  Felix,  and  communicated  with 
Victoria  Strait.  Kennedy  passed  through  it,  and  then 
crossed  Victoria  Strait  to  Prince  of  Wales  Land.  Af- 
ter continuing  westAvaixt  for  thirteen  days  and  reach- 
ing longitude  lOO*^  west  without  coming  to  any  sea, 
the  party  turned  their  course  northward,  and  at  last, 
on  tlie  4th  of  May,  arrived  at  Cape  A\  alker  at  tlie 
northern  extremity  of  Prince  of  AV'ales  Land.  But 
here,  as  at  Fury  lieacl),  they  were  much  disappointed 
at  finding  no  traces  of  Franklin's  Expedition. 

From  Ca])('  Walker  the  party  started  eastward,  the 
stock  of  pi'ovisioiis  running  very  low  and  some  of  the 
men  being  sick  with  the  scurvy.  On  ari'iviiig  at  Cape 
McClintock,  they  were  rejoiced  to  find  a  depot  of  ])ro- 
visions  left  there  by  Captain  Ross  in  1849.  Contin- 
uing on,  they  arrived  at  Whaler  Point  on  the  12th  and 
remained  there  till  the  27th,  recruiting  upon  the  stores 
and  anti-scorbutics  Avhich  Avere  there  found.  On  the 
30th  of  ]\ray  they  reached  their  shij),  after  an  absence 
of  nimtyseven  days,  during  which  time  they  had  trav- 
eled about  eleven  hundred  miles. 

The  Prince  Albert  remained  imprisoned  in  the  ioe 
until  the  Gth  of  August,  and  on  being  liberated  sailed 
for  home,  arriving  in  England  on  the  7th  of  October, 
1852. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
SEARCHES  FOR  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(expeditions  of  1852.) 

Notwithstanding  the  ill-success  and  disappointinents 
wliicli  had  thus  far  attended  the  searohcs  for  Frank- 
lin, tlie  whole  English  nation  was  stimulated  to  make 
one  more  great  effort  for  his  rescue ;  and  the  sj)ring  of 
18i32  witnessed  the  departure  from  England  of  the 
largest  expedition  which  had  ever  sailcil  for  the  Po- 
lar seas.  It  was  commanded  by  Sir  Edward  Belcher, 
and  comprised  a  squadron  of  three  sliij)s — the  Assist- 
ance— the  Resolute,  Captain  Kellett — the  North  Star, 
Captain  Pullen ;  and  two  steamers — the  Pioneer, 
Lieutenant  Oshorne — and  the  Intre]»id,  Captain  Mc- 
Clintock.  These  five  vessels  left  England  on  the  2Sth 
of  April,  and  airived  at  Beechey  Island  on  the  10th  of 
August. 

At  Beechey  Island  the  ships  separated.  Belcher 
and  Osborne,  with  the  Assistance  and  Pioneer,  pro- 
ceeded up  Wellington  Channel;  Kellett  and  McClin- 
tock,  with  the  Resolute  and  Intre})id,  sailed  westerly 
toward  Melville  Island;  and  the  North  Star  remained 
at  Beechey  Island  as  a  depot-ship  and  retreat  for  any 
of  the  exjdorers  who  might  need  assistance. 

Belcher's  two  ships  came  to  anchor  in  Northum- 

339 


J 


If 


!i 


it 


y 


i  r 


s4' 


I-     .  f-      !'^ 


nBf^^^m^m 


340 


SEAKCIIES   FOR   FRANKLIN. 


m 

II' 


berland  Sound  on  the  western  shores  of  Grinnell 
Laud,  in  hititude  76^  52',  and  here  they  remained 
through  the  wiute  ■  Exploring  pai-ties  were  sent  out 
in  every  directior  uring  the  autumn  and  ensuing 
summer,  who  discovered  and  surveyed  much  new 
territory.  Hopes  of  being  on  Franklin's  track  were 
occasionally  raised  from  finding  structures  evidently 
erected  by  human  hands  but  differing  from  any- 
thing whicli  the  Esquimaux  Avere  supposed  to  he 
familiar  with.  Belcher  in  describing  one  of  his  jonr^ 
neys  says: — 

"Our  progress  was  tantalizing,  and  attended  with 
deep  interest  and  excitement.  In  the  first  place,  I 
discovered,  on  the  brow  of  a  mountain  about  eight 
hundi'ed  feet  above  the  sea,  what  appeared  to  be  a 
recent  and  very  workmanlike  structure.  This  Avas  a 
dome, — or  rather  a  double  cone,  or  ice-house, — bnilt 
of  very  heavy  and  tabular  slabs,  which  no  single  per- 
son could  carry.  It  consisted  of  about  forty  courses, 
eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  eight  feet  in  de])th,  Avhen 
cleared,  but  only  five  in  height  from  the  base  of  the 
upper  cone  as  we  opened  it. 

"Most  carefully  was  eveiy  stone  removed,  everj'' 
atom  of  moss  or  earth  scrutinized ;  the  stones  at  the 
bottom  also  taken  up ;  but  without  finding  a  trace  of 
any  record,  or  of  the  stmcture  having  been  used  hy 
any  human  being.  It  was  filled  by  di'ift  snoAV,  but 
did  not  in  any  respect  bear  the  ap})ea)'ance  of  having 
been  built  more  than  a  season.  Tliis  was  named 
'  Mount  Discoveiy.' " 

Soon  afterward  two  stnictures  were  found  which 

appeared  to  be  graves.     "  Each,"  says  Belcher,  "  was 

.  like  tlie  dome,  of  large  selected  slabs,  having  at  each 

end  three  separate  stones,  laid  as  we  should  place 


I 


UKLCIIY    ISLANU. 


m 


m 


I 


M: 


■.[\ 


S 


\\ 


,i 


lil ' 


m 


Mi 


head  aiu 

that  thei 

a  stone  i 

assemble 

"The 

oppressi 

we  ascei 

trace  oi 

Wher 

the  ice, 

Beecliey 

sti'iicted 

the  win 

Whei 

his   wh 

and  wh 

on  the 

Island. 

a  distan 

water  o 

believin 

Assistai 

liis  crev 

and  nia 

Whe 

Beech  e; 

and  Pio 

off  the 

ately  se 

coast  f 

sprinj^. 

Griper 

Liddon 

"Parry 


CAITAIN    KELLKTl'S   ADVENTUUKH. 


341 


head  aiul  foot  stones.  So  thoroughly  satisfied  was  I 
that  there  was  no  delusion,  I  desisted  from  disturbing 
a  stone  until  it  should  be  formally  done  by  the  i)arty 
assembled. 

"  The  evening  following — for  where  the  sun  is  so 
oppressive  to  the  eyes  by  day  we  tra\el  by  niglit — 
we  ascended  the  hill,  and  removed  the  stones.  Not  a 
trace  of  human  beinijs!" 

When  the  Assistance  and  Pioneer  were  freed  from 
the  ice,  about  the  middle  of  July,  Belcher  started  for 
Beechey  Island  ;  but  before  he  could  get  there  ice  ob- 
structed his  passage,  and  his  ships  were  frozen  in  for 
the  winter  of  1853--4  at  Baring's  Bay. 

When  spring  came  on.  Belcher  determined  to  get 
his  whole  command  back  to  England  that  season ; 
and  when  his  two  vessels  were  liberated  from  tlie  ice 
on  the  6th  of  August,  he  ag.w.i  started  for  Beechey 
Island.  But  when  nearly  there  an  icefloe,  extending 
a  distance  of  twenty  miles  between  him  and  the  open 
water  of  Barrow's  Strait,  arrested  his  progress ;  and 
believing  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  the 
Assistance  and  Pioneer  through  this  ice;,  Belcher  and 
his  crews  deserted  them  on  the  26th  of  August  1854, 
and  made  their  way  to  Beechey  Island. 

When  Captain  Kellet  jiarted  from  Belcher  at 
Beechey  Island,  in  August  1852,  he  tool:  the  Resolute 
and  Pioneer  to  their  winter  (quarters  at  Dealy  Island, 
off  the  south  coast  of  Melville  Island,  and  immedi- 
ately sent  out  parties  to  deposit  provisions  along  the 
coast  for  the  searching  expeditions  of  the  ensuing 
spring.  McClintock  went  northerly  to  Ilecla  and 
Griper  Gulf,  and  Lieut.  Meacham  went  westerly  to 
Liddon  Gulf.  At  Winter  Harbor,  ]\Ieacham  visited 
"  Parry's  Sandstone,"  and  found  on  it  a  small  cairn 


i 


Ill 


'l:\\ 


'■•       U 


i  f? 


)i  i 


842 


SEARCHES   FOU   FUANKLIN. 


which  McClintock  Imd  orooted  th(!  year  T)eforo.  On 
cxaiuiiiiiig  this  cairn  ho  found  a  fo|>jK'r  cvlliKh'r,  in 
which  was  a  roll  folded  in  a  hladdcr.  On  opciiiiii,' 
this  roll,  Mcachani,  to  his  groat  astonishment,  found 
that  it  had  been  left  there  April  28th,  1S52,  hy 
McClure  of  the  Investigator,  and  that  it  contaiiicd  an 
account  of  the  cruise  of  that  ship  since  she  left  Ber- 
ing's Strait  in  1850. 

This  was  a  discoveiy  indeed.  The  Investigator 
had  notheen  heard  from  for  two  years,  and  In  ■  was 
information,  in  the  hand-writing  of  lier  commander, 
that  she  was  safely  moored  in  Mercy  Ba}',  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Banks'  Strait,  oidy  six  months  pre- 
viously. More  than  this — a  North- west  passage  had 
been  discovered.  Meacham  hastened  back  to  his  ship 
with  the  joyful  news. 

It  Avas  then  too  late  in  the  season  to  undertake  a 
journey  to  INIercy  Bay,  distant  one  hundred  ami  sev- 
enty miles  ;  but  early  the  next  spring,  ]\[arch  lOtli, 
1853,  a  "  forlorn  hope  "  party  of  ten  rnen,  led  by  Lieut. 
Pirn  of  the  Resolute,  started  off  across  the  strait  to 
search  for  the  Investigator.  Little  hope  of  finding 
McClure  Avas  entertained,  as  it  was  presumed  he  was 
no  longei"  at  Mercy  Bay.  The  lal^or  of  dragging  their 
large  sledge  over  the  broken  ice  and  hunnnocks  Avas 
most  tedious  and  fatiguing;  and  Avhenit  finally  broke 
doAvn,  Pirn  turned  it  back,  and  Avith  two  men  and  the 
the  little  Fit/james  ])ushed  briskly  on. 

Banks'  Land  Avas  reached  at  hist,  and  then,  after 
many  more  days  of  Aveary  travel,  the  Bay  of  Mercy 
came  in  vieAv.  No  ship  Avas  seen ;  l)ut  as  the  party 
proceeded  across  the  bay  in  search  of  records, 
something  Idack  Avas  noticed  in  the  distance.  On  look- 
ing at  it  through  his  glass,  Pirn  decided  that  it  Avas 


On 
busy  pi 
to  that 
thing 
and  tlu 
and  his 
where 

OnBl 
and  mei 
home  o: 
two  ves 
patches 
Thereu 


ABANDONMENT   OF   TITE    SHIPS. 


343 


a  whip,  and   liiinying  on  aliwul  of   his  companions, 
met  liis  old  friend  McCluro  as  already  related. 

In  April,  three  other  Hledg(!  ex})editi()nH  yvero.  sent 
out  by  Kellett,  -whieli  thoroiigldy  Kearehed  Mtdvillo 
Island  and  all  the  land  to  die  north  and  '.vest  thereof. 
McClintoekwaB  absent  one  hundred  and  six  days,  and 
explored  twelve  hundred  mikis  of  coast;  ]\Ieachaiu 
traveled  over  a  thousand  miles  in  ninety-three  day*«; 
Lieut.  Hamilton  made  a  sliorter  journey  to  the  north- 
east; hut  none  of  them  found  any  traces  of  Fraidvlin. 

The  ice  around  the  ships  did  not  break  up  till  the 
18th  of  August,  and  an  attemj)t  was  tlien  made  to  get 
them  to  Beecliey  Island ;  but  it  ])roved  unsuccessful,  and 
early  in  September  they  were  again  fast  in  the  new 
ice.  For  two  months  the  ships  drifted  back  and  forth 
with  the  floe,  and  then  cam(^  to  a  stand-still  in  longitude 
101",  at  a  place  due  east  of  "Winter  Harbor.  Here  they 
passed  the  winter  of  1853-4.  In  the  spring,  searches 
for  Franklin  were  renewed,  and  in  April,  Lieut,  Mea- 
cham  found  at  Princess  Royal  Island,  documents  left 
by  Collinson  in  August,  1852. 

On  returning  to  the  ships,  Mer.cham  found  all  hands 
busy  preparing  to  abandon  tlh^m,  as  j)eremj)tory  orders 
to  that  eifect  had  been  received  from  Belcher.  Eveiy- 
thing  about  the  vessels  was  put  in  perfect  order; 
and  then  the  hatclies  were  calked  down,  and  Kellett 
and  his  men  started  with  sledges  for  Beechey  Island 
where  McClure  and  his  crew  had  already  gone. 

On  Belclier's  arrival  at  Beechev  Island,  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  five  deserted  sliips  took  passage  for 
home  on  the  North  Star.  Just  as  they  were  starting, 
two  vessels — the  Phoenix  and  Talbot,  bringing  dis- 
patches and  supplies  for  Belcher — hove  in  sight. 
Thereupon,  a  portion  of  the  men  went  aboard  Captain 
21 


i  ? 


■  il'  ■ 


344 


EETUEN   TO  ENGLAND. 


Inglefield's  ships,  and  the  three  sailed  for  England, 
where  they  arrived  September  28th,  1854. 

Of  the  five  vessels  thus  abandoned  in  1853-4,  only 
one  has  since  been  heard  from.  In  September,  1855, 
as  Captain  James  Buddington,  commander  of  a  New 
London  whaler,  was  drifting  in  the  ice  of  Baffin's  Bay, 
he  espied  through  his  glass  a  ship  some  twenty  miles 
off.  For  seven  days  the  two  ships  gradually  approach- 
ed each  other ;  then  Buddington  sent  four  of  his  men 
over  the  ice  to  find  out  what  the  craft  was.  As  the 
party  neared  the  stranger,  after  a  day's  journey,  they 
found  that  she  was  fast  in  the  ice,  and  apparently 
deserted,  as  they  saw  no  one  and  received  no  answer 
to  their  shouts.  A  dread  came  over  the  men  as  they 
climbed  upon  her  decks.  Everything  was  in  order; 
and  over  the  helm  wan  the  motto,  in  letters  of  brass, 
"  England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty." 

On  descending  to  the  cabin  and  striking  a  light, 
the  mystery  was  solved,  for  there  they  found  the  log- 
book of  the  Resolute,  which  had  broken  from  her 
icy  fetters  a?:'d  drifted  eastward  into  Baffin's  Bay. 

The  interior  of  the  Resolute  was  in  a  bad  condition, 
but  Buddimjton  with  ten  of  his  crew  carried  her 
safely  to  New  London  after  a  most  un comfort al^le 
voyage.  The  sequel  is  an  honor  to  both  England  and 
the  United  States.  The  fonner  having  released  all 
hei*  claims  in  favor  of  the  salvors,  Congress  bought 
and  refitted  the  Resolute,  and  sent  her  in  charge  of 
officers  and  sailors  of  the  U.  S,  Navy,  to  England, 
where  she  was  formally  presented  to  Queen  Victoria 
in  December,  185G.  The  whole  affair  was  well  cal- 
culated to  hasten  an  "  era  of  good  feeling  "  between 
these  two  nations. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

SEARCHES  FOR  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

(expeditions  of  captain  inglefield  and  dr.  rae.) 

Captain  Inglefield  sailed  from  England  July  6th, 
1852,  in  the  steamer  Isabel,  to  ascertain  if  the  belief 
of  Sir  John  Ross  that  Franklin  had  lost  his  life  on  the 
western  shores  of  Greenland  was  well  founded. 

On  reaching  Baffin's  Bay,  Inglefield  pushed  boldly 
north  to  Smith's  Sound  and  examined  that  noble  chan- 
nel— which  had  hitherto  baffled  explorers — as  far  north 
as  78"  80'.  He  was  at  first,  deluded  with  the  idea  that 
he  had  found  a  climate  milder  than  that  of  Baffin's  Bay, 
Imt  this  delusion  a  violent  storm  soon  dispelled. 
Very  likely  the  storm  proved  his  salvation,  for  other- 
wise he  might  have  pushed  on  and  been  ice-anchored 
where  escape  would  have  been  impossible,  and  the 
Isabel  did  not  go  prepared  to  pass  an  Arctic  night. 

The  gale  drove  him  l)ack  none  too  soon,  for  the  cold 
soon  became  intense,  and  the  spray  froze  as  it  broke  on 
the  land.  Icebergs  and  loose  cakes  of  ice  were  all 
around  the  Isabel  and  it  was  only  by  getting  up 
steam  by  the  aid  of  blubber  that  she  forced  a  way 
out  of  her  difficulties. 

Inglefield  arrived  in  England  Nov.  4th,  1852.     Ilia 

345 


1.:     i 


!:  til 


i ' 


846 


SEARCHES   FOR  FRANKLIN. 


[■ill 


1: 


trip  was  a  sliort  one,  but  it  Avas  remarkably  success- 
ful, so  far  as  its  immediate  ohject  was  concerned. 

Early  in  lS5o,   Captain  Inglefield    was  .iL'-ain  sent 
out  in  command    of  the  Phwnix  and  L:idy  Fi-ankliii, 
to  reinforce  ]?elclier's  scpiadron,     Lieut,   Bellot,  the 
gallant  young  Frenclnuan  Avho  had  figured  so  con- 
sjjicuously  in  the   voyage  of  the  Prince  All)ert,  ac- 
companied Capt.  Inglefield,  and  tlie  saddest  incident 
connected  with  the  expedition  was  the  deatli  of  tliis 
hero.     In  August,  1853,  Bellot  volunteered  to  carry 
dispatches  from    Captain   Pullen  of  the  Nortli  Star, 
over  the  ice  to  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  who  Avas  at  that 
time  near  Cape  Beecher  in  Wellington  Channel,  and 
started  from  Beechcy  Island  August  12tli,  Avith  four 
men  named    Harvey,  Johnson,  Madden,  and   Hook, 
The  ice  at  this  season  of  the  year  is  always  treacher- 
ous, and   Bellot  Avas  cautioned  to  keep  as  close  as 
possible  to  the  eastern  shore  of  Wellington  Cliannol. 
He  encouraged  his  men  Avith  his  usual  hilarity,  and 
put  his  oAvn  shoulder  to  the  trucking  lines  as  they 
plodded  along  on  the  ice. 

Approaching  Cape  Grinnell,  Bellot  found  that  there 
Avas  a  broad  belt  of  Avater  betAveen  the  ice  and  the 
shore.  Nothing  daunted  he  pushed,  out  Avitli  his  In- 
dia-rubber boat,  to  couA'ey  a  line  to  the  ca])o  by 
Avhich  the  remainder  of  the  party  and  the  ])rovision9 
could  be  dragged  over;  but  the  Avind  blew  furiously 
find  he  could  not,  alone,  make  headway.  According- 
ly he  remained  on  the  ice,  and  ordered  Ilai'vey  and 
]\Iadden  to  cross  over  Avith  ^he  line,  Avhich  they  suc- 
cessfully accomplished.  Madden  remained  on  the 
shore  to  hold  the  line,  and  three  boat  loads  of  pm- 
Aasions  had  been  conveyed  acrc^ss  the  Avatei'  when  the 
ice  was  discovered  to  be  on  the  moA;e.     Harvey  and 


Madden 

course  c 

did    not 

his   wah 

slide.     I 

to  sea  c 

them    fij 

Madden 

com])anio 

any  assist 

to  the  shi] 

they  Avalk 

Cape  BoAv 

lost    com] 

countenaui 

the  liraA^e  i 

Tlie   ace 

briefly  this 

they  uiade 

from  the  aJ 

the  Lord  j^ 

touched," 

ation   calnj 

would  go 

a  few  minil 

J"g  of  thef 

ice  near  )>^ 

posite  sid( 

Was  blow-ill 

piol)ably 

ice.     His 

there    Avasj 

Hogarth,  y\ 

to  terra  firj 


DEATH   OF   BELLOT. 


347 


Madden  were  both  at  this  time  on  the  land,  but  of 
course  could  not  hold  on  to  the  line,  though  Madden 
did  not  Itt  go  till  hauled  into  the  water  up  to 
his  waist,  when  Bellot  called  to  him  to  let  her 
slide.  Bellot,  Johnson  and  Hook  were  now  drifting 
to  sea  on  a  floe  of  ice,  with  a  bitter  wind  driving 
them  further  and  further  from  hope  of  escape. 
Madden  and  Harvey  for  two  hours  watched  theii* 
companions  drifting  away,  powerless  to  render  them 
any  assistance,  and  then  began  to  retrace  their  steps 
to  the  ship.  Taking  what  provisions  they  could  carry, 
they  walked  around  Griffin  Bay  and  were  rounding 
Cape  Bowden,  Avhen  to  their  surprise  they  met  their 
lost  companions  Johnson  and  Hook,  whose  sad 
countenances  too  plainly  told  the  story  of  the  third, 
the  brave  and  gleeful  Lieutenant. 

The  account  they  gave  of  Bellot's  sad  fate  was 
briefly  this.  After  finding  themselv'es  fairly  afloat, 
they  made  an  ice  house  which  might  protect  them 
from  the  wind,  Bellot  cheerfully  remarking,  "  When 
the  Lord  protects  us  not  a  hair  of  our  heads  shall  be 
touclied."  They  talked  over  the  danger  of  their  situ- 
ation calmly  for  half  an  hour,  when  Bellot  said  he 
would  go  out  and  see  how  the  ice  was  drifting.  Li 
a  few  minutes  Johnson  followed  but  could  see  noth- 
ing of  the  Lieutenant,  but  there  was  a  crack  in  the 
ice  near  ])y,  some  five  fathoms  wide,  arid  on  the  op- 
posite side  the  crack  lay  Bellot's  stick.  The  wind 
was  blowing  a  gale,  and  the  gallant  Frenchman  was 
prol)ably  blown  into  the  water,  and  drifted  under  the 
ice.  His  companions  sliouted  "  Bellot !  Bellot !"  but 
there  was  no  response.  The  floe  drifted  to  Point 
Hogarth,  when  Johnson  and  Hook  made  their  escape 
to  terra  firma. 


H 


Mil 


848 


SEARCHES   FOE   FRANKLIN. 


"  Poor  Bellot !"  «  Poor  Bellot !"  was  the  exclamation 
of  all,  Esquimaux  included,  as  they  learned  hia  un- 
timely end.  His  was  a  generous,  noLle  nature.  With 
sincere  sympathy  for  Lady  Franklin,  he  entered  the 
English  service  for  the  sole  purpose  of  aiding  in  the 
discovery  of  her  noble  husband  ;  and  of  the  many  who 
are  buried  in  the  waters  and  frost-bound  lands  of  the 
Arctic  regions,  the  memory  of  none  is  cherished  more 
ardently  by  his  companions  than  Lieutenant  Bellot. 
England  showed  her  appreciation  of  his  services  by 
a  liberal  subscription  to  his  family  and  by  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  in  Greenwich  Hospital. 

Inglefield  returned  to  England  in  the  autumn  of 
1853.  He  was  accompanied  by  Lieut.  Creswell  of 
the  Investigator,  who  earned  home  dispatches  announ- 
cing the  discovery  of  a  North-west  Passage. 

In  1853,  Dr.  Rae,  who  had  made  a  land  expedition 
in  1851  in  which  he  had  thoroughly  explored  the 
coast  of  North  America  as  for  east  as  longitude  110", 
was  induced  to  undertake  a  similar  expedition  un- 
der the  auspices  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  His 
former  survey  had  made  him  thoroughly  ac(piainted 
with  the  coast,  and  had  proved  that  he  was  the  right 
man  to  head  another  expedition.  In  this  year  he 
however  advanced  only  as  far  as  Repulse  Bay,  which 
he  reached  on  the  15th  of  August,  and  then  went  into 
winter-quarters.  Ilis  researches  the  succeeding  sum- 
mer, and  his  important  discoveries,  which  proved 
to  be  the  key  that  unlocked  the  mysterious  fate  of 
Sir  John  Franklin,  are  related  in  a  succeeding  chapter. 


i  ' 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
THE  FIRST  A^IERICAN  EXPEDITION. 

WiiEX  the  year  1848  liad  arrived  without  any 
tidings  of  Sir  Jolui  Franklin  or  his  party,  Great  Britain, 
as  heretofore  stated,  dispatclied  three  expeditions 
to  look  for  them.  But  peculiar  drawbacks  seemed 
to  attend  their  efforts,  and  before  the  beginning  of 
1850  they  had  all  abandoned  the  search,  almost  with- 
out attaining  the  first  threshold  of  inquiry. 

Their  failure  aroused  every  where  the  generous 
sympathies  of  men.  Science  felt  for  its  votaries,  hu- 
manity mourned  its  fellows,  and  an  impulse,  holier 
and  more  energetic  than  either,  invoked  a  crusade 
of  rescue.  That  admirable  woman,  the  wife  of  Sir 
John  Franklin,  not  content  with  stimulating  the  re- 
newed edorts  of  her  own  countrymen,  claimed  the 
co-operation  of  the  world.  In  letters  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  full  of  the  eloquence  of  feeling, 
she  called  on  us,  as  a  "  kindred  people,  to  join  heart 
and  hand  in  the  enterprise  of  snatching  the  lost  navi- 
gators  from  a  dreary  grave." 

The  delays  incident  to  much  of  our  national  legis- 
lation menaced  the  defeat  of  her  appeal.  The  bill 
making  appropriations  for  the  outfit  of  an  expedition 
lingered  on  its  passage,  and  the  season  for  commenc- 
ing  operations  had  nearly  gone  by. 


i;    I 


!   '! 


350 


ORIGIN      OF     EXPEDITION. 


At  tliis  juncture,  a  nol  )le-spirited  niercliunt  of  New 
York  fitted  out  two  of  liis  oAvn  vessels  and  proft'ered 
tliem  gratuitously  to  the  government.  Tlius  pronijited 
by  the  munificent  liberality  of  Mr.  Grinnell,  Congress 
hastened  to  take  the  exi)e(liti()n  under  its  charge,  and 
authorized  the  president  to  detail  from  the  navy  such 
necessary  oflicers  and  seamen  as  might  he  willing  to 
enjjajxe  in  it.  Tlie  command  was  ijiven  to  Lieutenant 
Edwin  De  Haven,  and  the  two  vessels,  named  "  Ad- 
vance "  and  "  Rescue,"  sailed  from  New  York  on  the 
22d  day  of  May,  1850. 

Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  a  native  of  Philadelphia, 
already  distinguished  for  his  world-wide  travels,  scien- 
tific enthusiasm  and  gallant  bearing,  having  repeatedly 
■«  olunteered  for  the  service,  accomj)anied  the  exjtedi- 
tion  as  its  senior  medical  officer  and  naturalist,  and 
on  his  return  puTdished  its  history  in  the  form  of  a 
"  Personal  Narrative."  From  this  work  we  give,  by 
permission,  in  Dr.  Kane's  own  words,  a  condensed 
account  of  the 

UNITED  STATES  GEINNELL  EXPEDITION. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  while  bathing  in  the  tepid 
waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  I  received  one  of  those 
courteous  little  epistles  from  Washington  which  the 
electric  telegraph  has  made  so  familiar  to  naval  offi- 
cers. It  detached  me  from  the  coast  survey,  and  or- 
dered ine  to  "  proceed  forthwith  to  New  York,  for  duty 
upon  the  Arctic  Expedition." 

kSeven  and  a  half  days  later,  I  had  accomplished  my 
overland  journey  of  thirteen  hundred  miles,  and  in 
forty  hours  more  our  squadron  was  beyond  the  limits 
of  tlie  United  States :  the  Department  had  calculated 
my  traveling  time  to  a  nicety. 


m 


THE     ADVANCE     AND     BESCUi:. 


351 


A  very  few  books  and  a  stock  of  coarse  woolen 
clothing,  re-enforced  by  a  magnificent  robe  of  wolf, 
skins,  tliat  had  wandered  down  to  me  from  the  snow- 
drifts of  Utah,  constituted  my  entire  outfit ;  and  with 
these  I  made  my  report  to  Commodore  Salter  at  the 
Brooklyn  Navy  Yard. 

Aluiost  within  the  shadow  of  the  line-of-battle  ship 
North  Carolina,  their  hulls  completely  hidden  beneath 
a  projecting  wharf,  were  two  little  hermit  phrodite  l)rigs. 
Their  spars  had  no  man-of-war  trigness ;  their  decks 
were  choked  with  half-stowed  cargo ;  and  for  size,  I 
felt  as  if  I  could  straddle  from  the  main  hatch  to  the 
bulwarks. 

At  this  first  sight  of  the  Grinnell  Expedition,  I  con- 
fess that  the  fastidious  experience  of  naval  life  on 
board  frigates  and  corvettes  made  me  look  down  on 
these  humble  vessels.  They  seemed  to  me  more  like 
a  couple  of  coasting  schooners  than  a  national  squad- 
ron bound  for  a  perilous  and  distant  sea.  Many  a 
time  afterward  I  recalled  the  short-sighted  ignorance 
of  these  first  impressions,  when  some  rude  encounter 
with  the  ice  made  comfort  and  dignity  very  secondary 
thoughts. 

The  "Advance,"  my  immediate  home,  had  been  orig- 
inally intended  for  the  transport  of  machinery.  Her 
timbers  were  heavily  moulded,  and  her  fastenings  of 
the  most  careful  sort.  She  was  fifty-three  tons  larger 
than  her  consort,  the  "  Rescue  ;"  yet  both  together 
barely  equaled  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  tons. 

Of  my  brother  officers  I  can  not  say  a  word.  I  am 
so  intimately  bound  to  them  by  the  kindly  and  un- 
broken associations  of  friend  and  mess-mate,  that  I 
shrink  from  any  other  mention  of  them  than  such  as 
my  narrative  requires.     All  told,  our  little  corps  of 


t 


'.! 


f 


352 


LEAVE     NEW     YORK     HARBOR. 


officers  numbered  four  for  each  ship,  including  that 
non-effective  limb,  the  doctor.  Our  two  crews,  with 
the  aid  of  a  cook  and  steward,  counted  twelve  and 
thirteen ;  giving  a  total  of  but  thirty-three. 

ADVANCE.  "♦ 

Officerg. 

lAeuUnant  Commanding — Edwin  J.  De  Haven,  commanding  the  expedition. 
Passed  Midshipman — William  H.  Murdaugh,  acting  master  and  first  officer. 
Midshipman — William  I.  Lovell,  second  officer. 

£.  K.  Kane,  M.D.,  passed  assistant  surgeon. 


RESCUE. 

Officers. 

Aeltng  Master — .Samuel  P.  Griffin,  commanding  the  Rescue. 

Passed  Midshipman — Robert  R.  Carter,  acting  master  and  first  officer. 

Boalswain — Henry  Urooks.  second  officer. 

lieiijamin  Vreeland,  M.D.,  assistant  surgeon. 

About  one  o'clock  on  the  22d  of  May,  the  asthmatic 
oV^  steam-tug  that  was  to  be  our  escort  to  the  sea 
moved  slowly  off.  Our  adieux  from  the  Navy  Yard 
were  silent  enough.  We  cost  our  country  no  compli- 
mentary gunpowder;  and  it  was  not  until  we  got 
abreast  of  the  city  that  the  crowded  wharves  and 
shipping  showed  how  much  that  bigger  community 
sympathized  with  our  undertaking.  Cheers  and  hur- 
ras followed  us  till  we  had  passed  the  Biittery,  and 
the  f(ury-boats  and  steamers  came  out  of  their  track 
to  salute  us  in  the  bay. 

The  sky  was  overcast  before  we  lost  sight  of  the 
spire  of  old  Trinity ;  and  by  evening  it  had  clouded 
over  so  rapidly,  that  it  was  evident  we  had  to  look  for 
a  dirty  night  outside.  Off  Sandy  Hook  the  Wind  fresh- 
ened, and  the  sea  grew  so  rough,  that  we  were  forced 
to  part  abruptly  from  the  friends  who  had  kept  us 


ADVANCE  a:(d  kescl'e  at  kavy.vabd. 


' 


i     ! 


ili 


>1  t 


OCR   FIRST   ICEBKRO. 


H 


company. 

cabin,  wli 

instantly 

squall  wli 

of  the  st( 

storm  tojr 

was  conip 

to  the  di.s( 

The  dii 

as  I  clinil 

culium  wl 

a  time.    1 

human  be 

a  penitent 

two  berths 

between,  \ 

try,"  seem 

ble,  the  foi 

lamp,  that 

trated  thrc 

shelves  an 

from  the  w 

less  discoir 

By  the  i 
out  of  sigh 
last  of  our 
Washingto 
continued 
saw  the  wl 
We  closed 
healths,  sin 
out  of  sigh! 

I  now  be 
to  fortify  m 


il  n ' 


THE    GOOD-BY. 


355 


company.  We  were  eating  and  drinking  in  our  little 
cabin,  when  the  summons  came  for  them  to  hurry  up 
instantly  and  leap  aboard  the  boat.  The  same  heavy 
squall  which  made  us  cast  loose  so  suddenly  the  cable 
of  the  steamer  gathered  upon  us  tlie  night  and  the 
storm  together ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  our  transition 
was  complete,  from  harbor  life  and  home  associations 
to  the  discomforts  and  hardships  of  our  career. 

The  dill'erence  struck  me,  and  not  quite  pleasantly, 
as  I  climbed  over  straw  and  rubbish  into  the  little  pe- 
culium  which  was  to  be  my  resting-place  for  so  long 
a  time.  The  cabin,  which  made  the  homestead  of  four 
human  beings,  was  somewhat  less  in  dimensions  than 
a  penitentiary  cell.  There  was  just  room  enough  for 
two  berths  of  six  feet  each  on  a  side ;  and  the  area 
between,  which  is  known  to  naval  men  as  "  the  coun- 
try," seemed  completely  filled  up  with  the  hinged  ta- 
ble, the  four  camp-stools,  and  the  lockers.  A  hanging 
lamp,  that  creaked  uneasily  on  its  "  gimbals,"  illus- 
trated through  the  mist  some  long  rows  of  crockery 
shelves  and  the  dripping  step-ladder  that  led  directly 
from  the  wet  deck  above.  Every  thing  spoke  of  cheer- 
less discomfort  and  narrow  restraint. 

By  the  next  day  the  storm  had  abated.  We  were 
out  of  sight  of  land,  but  had  not  yet  parted  with  the 
last  of  our  well-wishers.  A  beautiful  pilot-boat,  the 
Washington,  with  Mr.  Grinnell  and  his  sons  on  board 
continued  to  bear  us  company.  But  on  the  25th  we 
saw  the  white  flag  hoisted  as  the  signal  of  farewell. 
We  closed  up  our  letters  and  took  them  aboard,  drank 
healths,  shook  hands — and  the  wind  being  fair,  were 
out  of  sight  of  the  schooner  before  evening. 

I  now  began,  with  an  instinct  of  future  exigencies, 
to  fortify  my  retreat.     The  only  spot  I  could  call  my 


85G 


CllEATURE    COMFORTS. 


own  was  tlie  bertli  I  have  spoken  of  before.  It  was 
a  sort  ol'  hunk — a  rijjht-angled  excavation,  of  six  feet 
by  two  feet  eii^Mit  in  horizontal  dimensions,  K;t  into 
the  side  of  the  vessel,  with  a  height  of  somotliing  less 
than  a  yard.  My  iirst  care  was  to  keep  water  out,  my 
second  to  make  it  warm.  A  bundle  of  tacks,  and  a 
few  yards  of  India-rubber  cloth,  soon  made  me  an  im- 
penetrable casing  over  the  entire  wood-work.  Upon 
this  were  laid  my  Mormon  wolf-.skin  and  a  somewhat 
ostentatious  Astracan  fur  cloak,  n  relic  of  former  travel. 
Two  little  wooden  shelves  held  my  scanty  library;  u 
third  supported  a  reading  lamp,  or,  upon  occasion,  a 
Berzelius'  argaiul,  to  be  lighted  when  the  dampness 
made  an  increiix'  of  heat  necessary.  My  watch  ticked 
from  its  particular  nail,  and  a  more  noiseless  monitor, 
my  thermometer,  occupied  another.  My  ink-bottle 
was  sus})onded,  pendulum  fashion,  from  a  hook,  and  to 
one  long  string  was  fastened,  like  the  ladle  of  a  street- 
pump,  my  entire  toilet,  a  tooth-brush,  a  comb,  and  a 
hair-brush. 

Now,  when  all  these  distributions  had  been  happily 
accomplished,  and  1  crawled  in  from  the  wet,  and  cold, 
and  disorder  of  without,  through  a  slit  in  the  India- 
rubber  cloth,  to  the  very  centre  of  my  complicated  re- 
sources, it  would  be  hard  for  any  one  lo  realize  the 
quantity  of  coml'ort  which  1  felt  I  had  manui'actured, 
My  lamp  burned  brightly;  little  or  no  water  distilled 
from  the  roof;  my  furs  warmed  me  into  satisfaction; 
and  I  realized  that  I  was  sweating  myself  out  of  my 
preliminary  cold,  and  could  temper  down  at  pleasure 
the  abruptness  of  my  acclimation. 

From  this  time  I  began  my  journal.  At  first  its 
entries  were  little  else  than  a  selfish  record  of  personal 
discomforts.     It  was  less  than  a  fortnight  since  J  was 


OFF    NEWFOUNDLAND. 


857 


umlor  tlio  sky  of  Florida,  looking  out  on  the  live  oak 
with  its  boarded  moss,  and  breathing  the  magnolia. 
Coinlortahlo  as  my  bunk  was,  companid  with  the  deck, 
1  was  conseious  that,  on  the  whole,  1  had  not  bettered 
my  quarters. 

But  with  the  7th  of  June  came  fine,  bright,  bracung 
weather.  We  were  ofTNewfoundliind,  getting  along 
well  over  a  smooth  sea.  We  had  been  looking  at  the 
low  hills  near  Cape  Race,  when,  about  noon,  a  great 
mass  of  whiteness  was  seen  floating  in  tlie  sunshine. 
It  wjis  our  hrst  iceberg.  It  was  in  shape  an  oblong 
cube,  and  iiboiit  twice  as  large  as  Girard  College.  Its 
color  was  an  unmixed,  but  not  daz/ling  white  :  indeed, 
it  seemed  entirely  coated  with  snow  of  such  unsullied, 
unreflecting  purity,  that,  as  we  passed  within  a  hund- 
red yards  of  it,  not  a  glitter  reached  us.  It  reminded 
me  of  a  great  nuirble  monolith,  only  awaiting  the  chisel 
to  stand  out  in  peristyle  and  pediment  a  floating  Par- 
thenon. There  was  something  very  imposing  in  the 
impassive  tranquillity  with  which  it  received  the  lash- 
ings of  the  sea. 

The  next  day  we  were  off  St.  John's,  surrounded  by 
bergs,  which  nearly  blockaded  the  harbor.  A  boat's 
crew  of  six  brawiiy  Saxon  inen  rowed  out  nine  miles 
to  meet  us,  and  oiler  their  services  as  pilots.  They 
were  disappointed  when  we  told  them  we  were  "  bound 
for  Greenland  ;"  but  their  hearty  countenances  bright- 
ened into  a  glow  when  we  added,  "  in  search  of  Sir 
John  Franklin." 

We  ran  into  an  iceberg  the  night  after,  and  carried 
away  our  jib-boom  and  martingale:  it  was  our  first 
adventure  with  these  mountains  of  the  sea.  AVe 
thumped  against  it  for  a  few  seconds,  but  slid  ofi' 
smoothly  enough  into  open  w'ater  afterward. 


■  '  } 

1 

'■'*f^ 

[ 

t 

1  '• . 

-  ^i 

;,'.  i 

,i       ; 

■i 

.*'  i 

1 

?: 

■  i 

'1 

■I 

1  ; 
i 

1:! 

i 

|: 

>l 

J 

i 

358 


THE     ABOTIO     DAT. 


ill 


I'M 


I 


\ 


m 


We  were  now  drawing  near  to  Davis's  Straits,  and 
the  names  which  recorded  our  progress  upon  the  charts 
were  full  of  Arctic  associations.  The  Meta  Incognita 
of  Frobisher  and  the  Cape  of  God's  Mercy  greeted  us 
from  the  American  coast :  Cape  Farewell  was  on  our 
starboard  quarter,  and  the  '*  Land  of  Desolation"  nearly 
abeam. 

Our  enemies,  the  icebersrs — for  we  had  not  yet 
learned  to  regirrd  them  &?  friends — made  their  appear- 
ance again  on  the  1 6th.  One  of  them  was  an  irreg- 
ular quadrangle,  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  in 
its  presenting  face. 

The  night  had  now  left  us :  we  were  in  the  contin- 
uous sunlight  of  the  Arctic  summer.  I  copy  the  en- 
tries from  my  journal  of  the  17th. 

"We  are  just  '  turning  in,'  that  is,  seeking  our  den 
for  sleep.  It  has  been  a  long  day,  but  to  me  a  God- 
send, so  clear  and  fogless.  My  time-piece  points  to 
half  past  nine,  and  yet  the  sunshine  is  streaming  down 
the  little  hatchway. 

"Our  Arctic  day  has  commenced.  Last  night  we 
read  the  thermometer  without  a  lantern,  and  the 
binnacle  was  not  lighted  up.  To-day  the  sun  sets 
after  ten,  to  rise  again  before  two ;  and  during  the 
bright  twilight  interval  he  will  dip  but  a  few  degrees 
below  the  horizon.  We  have  followed  him  for  some 
time  past  in  one  scarcely  varying  track  of  brightness. 
The  words  night  and  day  begin  to  puzzle  me,  as  I  rec- 
ognize the  arbitrary  character  of  the  hour  cycles  that 
have  borne  these  names.  Indeed,  1  miss  that  sootliing 
tranquillizer,  the  dear  old  darkness,  and  can  hardly,  as 
I  give  way  to  sleep,  bid  the  mental  good-night  which 
travelers  like  to  send  from  their  darkened  pillows  to 
friends  at  home. 


r 


1; 


THE   SLKKKRTOPPES. 


I  i 


ENTERINO  DISCO. 


UlSCd    HITS, 


''I 


On  the  i 
same  doiiK 
a  sail  sin 
pleased  us, 
declined  a 

On  the  i 
j5on,  we  sij 
It  was  a  he 
to  this  hirt] 
est,  and,  ii 
sionary  au 
Norsemen, 
complimei] 

We  first 
inarkable  ] 
not  unlike 
top  is  whit 
their  unbn 
to  suggest 
tor ;  and  i1 
so  frequeni 

This  pes 
to  the  enti 
tions  confi 
ill  latitude 
may  he  see 
out  to  sea. 

We  wer 
We  had  aj 
and  when 
we  found  c 
we  could  s 
streaks.  I 
met  my  ey 


THE     SUKKERTOPPEN. 


361 


On  the  20th  an  unknown  schooner  caine  within  the 
same  dome  of  mist  with  ourselves.  We  had  not  seen 
a  sail  since  leaving  Newfoundland,  and  the  sight 
pleased  us.  We  showed  our  colors,  but  the  little  craft 
declined  a  reciprocation. 

On  the  same  day,  j  utting  up  above  the  misty  hori- 
ion,  we  sighted  the  mountainous  coast  of  Greenland. 
It  was  a  bold  antiphrasis  that  gave  such  a  vernal  title 
to  this  birth-place  of  icebergs.  Old  Crantz,  the  quaint- 
est, and,  in  many  things,  the  most  exact  of  the  mis- 
sionary authorities,  says  that  it  got  the  name  from  the 
Norsemen,  because  it  was  greener  than  Iceland — a  poor 
compliment,  certainly,  to  the  land  of  the  Geysers  I 

We  first  made  the  coast  near  Sukkertoppen,  a  re- 
markable peak,  called  so,  perhaps,  because  its  form  is 
not  unlike  that  of  a  sugar-loaf,  perhaps  because  its 
top  is  whitened  with  the  snow.  Mountains  that  mark 
their  unbroken  profile  on  the  distant  sky  are  very  apt 
to  suggest  these  fanciful  remembrances  to  the  naviga- 
tor ;  and  it  is  probably  this  which  makes  their  names 
so  frequently  characteristic. 

This  peak  is  a  noted  landmark,  and  gives  its  name 
to  tlie  entire  district  it  overlooks.  Our  own  observa- 
tions confirm  those  of  Graah  and  Ross,  which  place  it 
in  latitude  65°  22'  north,  longitude  53°  05'  west.  It 
may  be  seen  under  ordinary  circumstances  many  miles 
out  to  sea. 

We  were  favored  in  our  view  of  the  Sukkertoppen. 
We  had  approached  it  through  an  atmosphere  of  fog ; 
and  when  the  morning  of  the  23d  gave  us  a  clear  sky, 
we  found  ourselves  close  upon  the  beach,  so  jlose  that 
we  could  see  the  white  surf  mingling  with  the  snow 
streaks.  A  more  rugged  and  inhospitable  region  never 
met  my  eye.     Its  unyielding  expression  differed  from 


I      ! 


iU\ 


'■    1 1 

i     , 
iMlMi  ^  J 

1 
i 

: 

362 


THE     SUKKERTOPPEN. 


any  that  belongs  to  the  recognized  desert,  the  Sahara, 
or  the  South  American  Arridas ;  for  in  these  tropical 
wastes  there  is  rarely  wanting  some  group  of  Euphor- 
bia or  stunted  Gum  Arabic  trees,  to  qualify  by  their 
contrast  the  general  barrenness.  It  was  startling  to 
see,  beneath  a  smiling  sun  and  upon  the  level  of  the 
all-fertilizing  sea,  an  entire  country  without  an  ap- 
parent trace  of  vegetable  life. 

On  the  24th,  the  snn  did  not  pass  below  the  horizon. 
We  had  already  beguv  to  realize  that  power  of  adap- 
tation to  a  new  siate  of  things,  which  seems  to  be  a 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  man.  We  marked  our 
day  by  its  routine.  Though  the  temptation  to  avoid 
a  regular  bed-hour  was  sometimes  irresistible,  yet  sev- 
en bells  always  found  us  washing  by  turns  at  our  one 
tin  wash-basin  :  at  eight  bells  we  breakfasted ;  at 
eight  again  we  called  to  grog;  two  hours  afterward 
we  met  at  dinner ;  and  at  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
we  came  with  laudable  regularity  to  our  salt  junk  and 
coffee. 

Our  daily  reckoning  kept  us  advised  of  the  recur- 
ring noonday,  the  meridian  starting-point  of  sea-life; 
and  our  indefatigable  master  had  his  unvarying  hour 
for  winding  up  and  comparing  the  chronometers.  It 
is  hard  not  to  nuirk  the  regulated  steps  of  time,  where 
such  a  man-of-war  rontine  prevails  ;  and  I  can  scarce- 
ly understand  the  necessity  for  the  twenty-four  hours' 
registering  dial-plate,  which  Parry  and  others  carried 
T^ith  them,  to  avert  the  disastrous  consequences  of  a 
twelve  hours'  skip  in  their  polar  reckonings. 

We  had  now  been  a  month  and  a  day  out  from  New 
York.  Our  iinmediate  destination  was  the  Crown 
Prince  Islands,  more  generally  known  by  the  misno- 
mer of  the  Whale  Fish.     This  little  group  .'s  situated 


CROTTN     PRINCE     ISLANDS. 


363 


in  the  Bay  of  Disco,  thirty  miles  south  of  the  island 
of  that  name. 

The  entrance  to  the  anchorage  from  the  southwest 
is  between  two  islands,  and  the  harbor,  which  is  com- 
pletely sheltered  from  ice,  is  formed,  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  sketch,  by  the  conjunction  of  a  third.  On 
turning  the  corner,  we  suddenly  came  upon  a  wood- 
en  store-house  for  oil  and  skins ;  and  opposite  to  it, 
a  clumsy-looking  collier,  moored  stem  and  stern  by 
hawsers  leading  to  rocks  on  either  side  of  the  channel. 
Soon  after,  we  were  boarded  by  Lieutenant  Power,  of 
the  British  navy,  and  from  him  we  learned  that  the 
clumsy  craft  was  the  Emma  Eugenia,  a  provision 
transport  chartered  by  the  Admiralty,  and  that  in  less 
than  a  week  she  would  take  our  letters  tp  England. 

We  learned,  too,  that  the  British  relief  squadron 
under  Commodore  Austin  had  sailed  the  day  before 
for  the  regions  of  search.  They  had  left  England  on 
the  Gth  of  May,  or  seventeen  days  before  our  own  de- 
parture from  New  York. 

While  we  were  standing  upon  deck,  waiting  for 
the  boat  to  be  manned  which  was  to  take  us  to  the 
shore,  something  like  a  large  Newfoundland  dog  was 
seen  moving  rapidly  through  the  water.  As  it  ap- 
proached, we  could  see  a  horn-like  prolongation  bulg- 
ing from  its  chest,  and  every  now  and  then  a  queer 
movenient,  as  of  two  flapping  wings,  which,  acting 
alternately  on  either  side,  seemed  to  urge  it  through 
the  water.  Almost  immediately  it  was  alongside  of 
us,  and  then  we  realized  what  was  the  much  talked- 
of  kayack  of  the  G  reenlanders. 

It  was  a  canoe-shaped  frame- work,  carefully  and  f». 
tirely  covered  with  tensely-stretched  seal-skins,  beau- 
tiful in  model,  and  graceful  as  the  nautilus,  to  which 

22 


;ii 


!• 


\    i 


j 

*    1 

'■'i'    . 

i'  f 

^Vi 

^ 

*           ; 

1 

ft 


i 


!  !1    ! 


KAYACKS. 


Y.  7. 


it  has  been  compared.  AVith  the  exception  of  an  ellip. 
tical  hole,  nearly  in  its  centre,  to  receive  its  occupant, 
it  was  both  air  and  water  tight.  Into  this  hole  was 
wedged  its  human  freight,  a  black-locked  Esquimaux, 
enveloped  in  an  undressed  seal-skin,  drawn  tightly 
around  the  head  and  wrists,  and  fastened,  where  it 
met  the  kayack,  about  an  elevated  rim  made  for  the 
purpose,  over  which  it  slipped  like  a  bladder  over  the 
lip  of  a  jar.         •  "    ' 

The  length  of  the  kayack  was  about  eighteen  feet, 
tapering  fore  and  aft  to  an  absolute  point.  The  beam 
was  but  twenty-one  inches.  When  laden,  as  we  saw 
it,  the  top  or  deck  was  at  its  centre  but  two  inches 
by  measurement  above  the  water-line.  The  waves 
often  broke  completely  over  it.  A  double-bladed  oar, 
grasped  in  the  middle,  was  the  sole  propeller.  It  -wifis 
wonderful  to  see  how  rapidly  the  will  of  the  kayacker 
communicated  itself  to  his  little  bark.  One  impulse 
seemed  to  control  both.  Indeed,  even  for  a  careful 
observer,  it  was  hard  to  say  where  the  boat  ended  or 
the  man  commenced ;  the  rider  seemed  one  with  his 
frail  craft,  an  amphibious  realization  of  the  centaur, 
or  a  practical  improvement  upon  the  merman. 

These  boats,  not  only  as  specimens  of  beautiful  na- 
val architecture,  but  from  their  controlling  influence 
upon  the  fortunes  of  their  owners,  became  to  me  sub- 
jects of  careful  study.  I  will  revert  to  them  at  an- 
other time.  As  we  rowed  to  the  shore,  crowds  of  them 
followed  us,  hanging  like  Mother  Carey's  chickens  in 
our  wake,  and  just  outside  the  sweep  of  our  oars. 

We  landed  at  a  small  cove  formed  by  two  protrud- 
ing masses  of  coarsely  granular  feldspar.  Some  forty 
odd  souls,  the  men,  women,  and  children  of  the  entire 
settlement,  received  us.     The  men  were  in  the  front 


THE   LANDING. 


365 


rank  ;  the  women,  Avith  their  infants  on  their  backs, 
came  next :  and  behind  them,  in  yelling  phalanx,  the 
children.  Still  further  back  were  crowds  of  dogs, 
seated  on  their  haunches,  and  howling  in  unison  with 
their  masters. 

The  one  feeling  which,  I  venture  to  say,  pervaded 
us  all,  to  the  momentary  exclusion  of  every  thing  else, 
was  disgust.  Offal  was  strewn  around  Avithout  regard 
to  position ;  scabs  of  drying  seal-meat  were  spread  over 
the  rocks ;  oil  and  blubber  smeared  every  thing,  from 
the  dogs'  coats  to  their  masters' ;  animal  retuse  tainted 
all  we  saAv ;  and  Ave  afterwai'd  found,  Avhile  botaniz- 
ing among  the  snow  valleys,  bones  of  the  seal,  walrus, 
and  whale,  buried  in  the  mosses. 

But  if  filth  characterized  the  ojien  air,  Avhat  was  it 
in  the  habitations  !  One  poor  family  had  escaped  to 
their  summer  tent,  pitched  upon  an  adjacent  rock  that 
overlooked  the  sea.  Within  a  little  area  of  six  feet 
by  eight,  I  counted  a  father,  mother,  grandfather,  and 
four  children,  a  tea-kettle,  a  rude  box,  two  rifles,  and 
a  litter  of  puppies. 

This  island  is  used  by  the  Danes  as  a  soi-t  of  fishing 
station,  where  one  European,  generally  a  carpenter  or 
cooper,  presides  over  a  few  families  of  Esquimaux,  who 
live  by  the  chase  of  the  seal.  This  functionary  had 
a  hut  built  of  timber,  which  we  visited.  Except  the 
oil-house,  Avhich  we  had  observed  before,  it  Avas  the 
only  Avooden  edifice. 

The  natives,  if  the  amalgamation  of  Dane  and  Es- 
quimaux can  be  called  such,  spend  their  summer  in 
the  reindeer  tent,  their  winters  in  the  semi-subterra- 
nean hut.  These  last  have  not  been  materially  im- 
proved since  the  days  of  Egede  and  Faln'icius.  A 
square  inclosure  of  stone  or  turf  is  raftered  over  Avith 


^\  } 


^W 


'"  i 


^^. 


366 


THE     DWELLNGS. 


drift-wood  or  whalebones,  and  then  roofed  in  with 
earth,  skins,  mosses,  and  hroken-up  kayack  frames. 
One  small  aperture  of  eighteen  inches  square,  cover- 
ed with  the  scraped  intestines  of  the  seal,  forms  the 
window ;  and  a  long,  tunnel-like  entry,  opening  to  the 
south,  and  not  exceeding  three  feet  in  height,  leads 
to  a  skin-covered  door.  Inside,  perched  upon  an  ele- 
vated  dais  or  stall,  with  an  earthen  lamp  to  establish 
the  "focus,"  several  families  reside  together. 


CHART   or  THE  WHALE-FiaU    ISLANDS. 


LIEVELY. 


367 


Our  commander  intended  to  remain  at  the  Crown 
Prince  Islands  no  longer  than  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  our  consort,  the  Rescue,  to  rejoin  us;  but, 
upon  reviewing  our  hurried  preparation  for  the  hard- 
ships of  the  winter,  he  determined,  Avith  characteristic 
forethought,  to  send  a  boat  party  to  the  settlement  of 
Lievely,  or  Godhavn,  on  the  neighboring  island  of 
Disco,  for  the  double  purpose  of  collecting  information 
and  purchasing  a  stock  of  flu's.  The  execution  of 
this  duty  he  devolved  upon  me. 

We  started  on  the  27th,  Mr.  Lovell,  myself,  an  Es- 
quimaux pilot,  and  a  crew  of  five  men.  As  we  rowed 
along  the  narrow  channels  before  we  emerged  from 
this  rocky  group,  I  observed  for  the  first  time  that 
extreme  transparency  of  the  water  which  has  so  often 
been  alluded  to  by  autliors  as  characteristic  of  the  Po- 
lar Seas.  At  the  depth  of  ten  fathoms  every  feature 
of  the  bottom  was  distinctly  visible. 

Even  for  one  who  has  seen  the  crimson  dulses  and 
coral  groves  of  the  equatorial  zones,  this  arctic  growth 
had  its  rival  beauties.  Enormous  bottle-green  fronds 
were  waving  their  ungainly  lengths  above  a  labyrinth- 
ine jungle  of  snake-like  stems;  and  far  down,  where 
the  claws  of  the  fucus  had  grappled  the  round  gneis- 
ses, gieat  glaring  lime  patches  shone  like  upset  white- 
wash upon  a  home  grassplot. 

It  was  a  rough  sail  outside.  The  bergs  were  nu- 
merous ;  and  the  heavy  sea  way  and  eddying  current, 
sweeping  like  a  mill-race  along  the  southern  face  of 
the  island,  made  us  barely  able  to  double  the  entrance 
to  tlie  little  harbor.  We  did  double  it,  howevei',  and 
by  a  sudden  transition  found  ourselves  in  a  quiet  land- 
locked basin,  shadowed  by  wall-like  hills. 

Snow,  as  usual,  covered  the  lower  slopes  j  but,  cheer- 


! 


jl    i 


i.'     '• 


)      I 


1        ', 


f 

1 

'l 

1   i' 

'       \ 

■I] 

I           f 

'. 

1 

f   v^ 

,          1 

l' 

:.        ..j 

)  'i 

i; 

1  -    ,  -- 

■:l 

1 

i 

!       i; 

,!f 

!! 

I 

,^  ■ 

i  t 

1: 

* 

!       k'.- 

'■ 

it 

; 
ii 

3(38 


DISCO. 


ful  in  spite  of  its  cold  envelope,  rose  a  group. of  rude 
houses,  mottling  the  sky  Avith  the  comfortable  smoke 
of  their  huge  chiumeys.  Among  the  most  conspicu- 
ous of  these  was  one  antique  and  gable  fronted,  with 
timbers  so  heavy  and  besmeared  with  tar,  that  it 
seemed  as  if  built  from  the  stranded  wreck  of  a  vessel. 
Little  man-of-wa».  port-holes,  recessed  into  its  wooden 
sides,  and  a  flag-staff,  as  tall  as  the  mast  of  a  jolly- 
boat,  gave  it  dignity.  This  was  the  house  of  the 
"  Royal  Inspector  of  the  Northern  portions  of  Davis's 
Straits;"  whose  occupant — well  and  kindly  remem- 
bered by  all  of  us — no  less  than  the  royal  inspector 
himself,  stood  awaiting  our  landing. 

The  incumbent,  Mr.  Olrik,  was  an  accomplished  and 
hospitable  gentleman,  well  read  in  the  natural  sci- 
ences, and  an  acute  observer.  In  a  few  minutes  we 
were  seated  by  a  ponderous  stove,  and  in  a  few  more 
discussing  a  hot  Eider  duck  and  a  bottle  of  Latour. 

Upon  commencing  my  negotiations  as  to  furs,  the 
object  of  my  journey,  1  learned  that  the  reindeer  do 
not  abound  on  the  island  of  Disco  as  in  the  days  of 
Crantz  and  Egede  ;  though  to  the  south,  about  Bunke 
Land,  and  the  fiords  around  Ilolsteinberg,  and  to  the 
north  of  the  Waigat,  they  are  still  very  numerous. 
Nevertheless,  by  drunmiing  up  the  resources  of  the 
settlement,  we  obtained  a  supply  of  second-hand  late 
summer  skins ;  and  with  these,  aided  by  the  seal,  soon 
fitted  out  a  wardrobe. 

Of  Disco,  save  its  Esquimaux  huts,  its  oil-house,  its 
smith-shop,  its  little  school,  and  its  gubernatorial  man- 
sion, I  can  say  but  little.  It  is  the  largest  circum- 
navigable  island  on  the  coast  of  Greenland.  Its  long 
diameter  is  from  the  northwest  to  southeast,  and  its 
eastern  edge  is  in  a  continuous  line  with  the  coast  to 


INSI'KCTOKS'    IIOL'SK,    LIKVELY. 


AMONO  THE  nERoa 


I   III 


ij 


the  north  and 
strait,  called 
bay. 

So  much 
swarthy,  Clir 
Lovell,  like  a 
the  doctor: 
wet  hortiis  si 
again  for  our 

We  loft  tl] 
pany  with  tli 
southwest  en 
through  a  ci 
July,  early  ii 
field-ice.  Fr 
acteristic  vo: 


DISCO. 


871 


the  north  and  south.  It  is  rendered  insular  by  a  large 
strait,  called  the  Waigat,  which  inosculates  with  the 
bay. 

So  much  for  Disco.  Paul  Zacharcus,  long-haired, 
swarthy,  Chiistian  Paul,  said  that  the  wind  was  fair: 
Lovcll,  like  a  good  .«ailor,  exercised  his  authority  over 
the  doctor:  the  furs  were  packed,  my  sketches  and 
wet  hortus  siccus  properly  combined,  and  we  started 
again  for  our  little  brig. 

We  left  the  Whale-fieh  Islands  on  the  29th,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rescue.  On  the  30th  we  doubled  the 
southwest  cape  of  Disco,  and  stood  to  the  northward, 
through  n  crowd  of  noble  icebergs.  On  the  first  of 
July,  early  in  the  ruorning,  we  encountered  our  first 
field-ice.  From  this  date  really  commenced  the  char- 
acteristic voyaging  of  a  Polar  cruise. 


^- 


:      ( 


R! 


[if 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  EXPEDITION. 

(continued.) 

"July  1.  This  morning  was  called  on  deck  at  4  A.M. 
by  our  commander. 

"About  two  hundred  yarr"  to  the  windward,  form- 
ing a  loo-shore,  was  a  vast  plane  of  undulating  ico,  in 
nowise  differing  from  that  which  we  see  in  the  Dela- 
ware when  mid-winter  is  contending  with  the  ice- 
boats. There  was  the  same  crackling,  and  grinding, 
and  splashing,  but  the  indehnite  extent — an  ocean  in- 
stead of  a  river— multiplied  it  to  a  din  unspoakal^le ; 
and  Avith  it  came  a  strange  undertone  accompaniment, 
a  not  discordant  drone.  This  was  the  floe  ice ;  per- 
haps a  tongue  from  the  '  Great  Pack,'  through  which 
we  are  now  every  day  expecting  to  force  our  Avay.  A 
great  number  of  bergs,  of  shapes  the  most  sirnplo  and 
most  com])licated,  of  colors  blue,  white,  and  earth- 
stained,  wore  tangled  in  this  floating  field.  Siu'ii. 
however,  was  the  inertia  of  the  huge  masses,  that  the 
sheet  ice  piled  itself  up  about  them  as  on  fixed  rocks. 

"The  sea  immediately  around,  saving  the  ground- 
swell,  was  smooth  as  a  mill-pond  ;  but  it  -was  studded 
over  with  dark,  protruding  little  globules,  about  the 
size  of  hens'  eggs,  producing  an  effect  like  the  dimples 
of  so  many  overgrown  rain-drops  fallen  on  the  water. 
These,  as  I  afterward  found,  were  rounded  fVaginents 
of  transparent  and  fresh-water  ice,  the  debris  and  de- 

(372) 


tritus  of  tl 
ten  miles 

"At  9  F 
tered  agaii 
berg.    As 
us  some  he 

"At  11  V 
wind,  found 
a  noted  sea 

How  far 
we  saw  dh 
the  deep  r 
Hearing  mi( 
and  threw 
large  bergs 
those  in  th 
distance  ob; 

Omenak'i 
the  largest 
the  mountf 
form  so  ma 
inland  term 
supposed  bj 
sounds,  whi 
enter  fioui 

It  is  up 
trap,  that  tl 
have  nuule  . 
bio  locality 
the  glo))e. 
comj)letely 
myself  coun 
than  two  h 
from  the  dei 


OMENAK    S     FIORD. 


375 


tritus  of  the  bergs.  "We  sailed  along  this  field  about 
ten  miles 

"  At  9  P.  M.  the  fogs  settled  around  us,  and  we  en- 
tered again  upon  an  area  full  of  floating  masses  of 
berg.  As  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  them,  tlicy  gave 
us  some  heavy  thumps. 

"At  11  we  cleared  the  floes,  and,  favored  with  a  free 
wind,  found  ourselves  nearly  opposite  Omenak's  Fiord, 
a  noted  seat  of  iceberg  gi'owtli  and  distriljution." 

How  far  we  were  from  land  I  could  not  tell ;  but 
we  saw  distinctly  tho  configuration  of  the  hills  and 
the  deep  recesses  of  the  fiord  The  sun,  although 
nearing  midni  '  t,  was  five  degrees  above  the  horizon, 
and  threw  its  rich  coloring  over  the  snow.  Many 
large  bergs  were  moving  ni  procession  from  the  fiord, 
those  in  the  foreground  lu  full  sunshino,  those  in  the 
distance  oljscured  by  the  shadow  of  tluir  parent  hills. 

Omenak's  Fiord,  known  as  Jaco1)'s  Bigh'  is  one  of 
the  largest  of  those  strange  clefts,  w  hich.  penetrating 
the  mountain  range  at  right  angii  s  to  its  long  axis, 
form  so  majestic  a  feature  of  Greenland  scenery.  Its 
inland  termination  has  never  been  reach-  I ;  and  it  is 
supposed  by  Scoresby  to  be  continuoi'  with  the  large 
sounds,  which  on  a  corresponding  parallel  (70''  40') 
enter  from  the  eastern  coast. 

It  is  up  this  fiord,  probably  in  the  chasms  of  the 
trap,  that  those  enormous  glaciers  accumulate  which 
have  made  Jacob's  Bight,  perliai)s,  the  most  remarka- 
ble locality  in  the  genesis  of  icel)ergs  on  the  face  of 
the  glo))e.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  have  the  shore  here 
com})letely  lilocked  in  by  these  gigantic  monsters:  I 
myself  counted  in  one  evening,  the  od  of  July,  no  less 
than  two  hundred  and  forty  of  priuuiry  magnitude, 
from  the  decks  of  our  vessel. 


!   J 


!'    1' 


If. 


'   il 


376 


FORMATION     OF     ICEBERGS. 


The  glaciers  -wliicli  abut  upon  this  sound  are  prob- 
ably ofl'sets  from  an  interior  mer  de  glace.  The  val- 
leys or  canals  which  conduct  these  offsets  were  de- 
scribed to  me  as  singularly  rectilinear  and  uniform  in 
diameter,  a  fact  which  derives  ready  confirmation  from 
the  known  confiij;uration  of  a  dioritic  country.  Now 
the  protrusi(ra  of  these  abutting  faces  into  the  Avaters 
of  the  80und  has  been  a  subject  of  observation  among 
both  Danes  and  Esquimaux.  Places  about  Jacob's 
Harbor,  remembered  as  the  former  seats  of  habitation, 
are  now  overrun  by  glaciers ;  and  Mr.  Olrik  told  me 
of  a  naked  escarpment  of  ice,  twelve  hundred  feet 
high,  which  he  had  seen  protruding  nearly  half  a  mile 
into  the  sea.  ■ 

The  materials  thus  afforded  in  redundant  profusion 
are  rapidly  converted  into  icebergs.  The  water  at  the 
bases  of  these  dill's  is  very  deep — I  have  in  my  note- 
book well-established  instances  of  three  hundred  fath- 
oms ;  and  the  pyramidal  structure  of  the  trap  is  such 
as  to  favor  a  precipitous  coast  line.  The  glacier,  thus 
exposed  to  a  saline  water  base  of  a  temperature  above 
the  freezing  point,  and  to  an  undermiuiug  wave  ac- 
tion, aided  by  tides  and  winds,  is  of  course  speedily 
detached  by  its  own  gravitation. 

Jul}/  2.  The  next  day  we  passed  this  fiord  and  stood 
on  oui  course  beyond  an  hnposing  headland,  known 
on  tln'  charts  as  Ca[)e  Cranstowu,  through  a  sea  un- 
obstrinted  by  iloe  ice,  but  abounding  in  bergs. 

In  the  afternoon  the  wind  subsided  iuto  a  mere 
cats-paw,  and  we  were  enabled  to  visit  several  of  the 
icebergs.  Certain  it  is  that  no  objects  ever  impressed 
me  more.  There  was  something  about  them  so  slum- 
berous and  so  pure,  so  massive  yet  so  evanescent,  so 
majestic  in  their  cheerless  beauty,  without,  after  all, 


ICEBERG     SCENERY. 


377 


any  of  the  salient  points  which  give  character  to  de- 
scription, that  they  ahnost  seemed  to  me  the  mate- 
rial for  a  dream,  rather  than  things  to  be  definitely 
painted  in  words. 

The  first  that  we  approached  was  entirely  inaccess- 
ible. Our  commander,  in  whose  estimates  of  distance 
and  magnitude  I  have  great  confidence,  made  it  nearly 
a  mile  in  circumference. 

The  next  was  a  monster  ice  mountain,  at  least  two 
hundred  feet  high,  irregularly  polyhedral  in  shape, 
and  its  surface  diversified  with  hill  and  dale.  Upon 
this  one  we  landed.  I  had  never  appreciated  before 
the  glorious  variety  of  iceberg  scenery.  The  sea  at 
the  base  of  this  berg  was  dashing  into  hollow  caves 
of  pure  and  intense  ultramarine ;  and  to  leeward  the 
quiet  water  lit  the  eye  down  to  a  long,  spindle-shaped 
root  of  milky  whiteness,  which  seemed  to  dye  the  sea 
as  it  descended,  until  the  blue  and  white  were  mixed 
in  a  pale  turkois.  Above,  and  high  enough  to  give 
an  expression  akin  to  sublimity,  were  bristling  crags. 

The  general  color  of  a  berg  I  have  before  compared 
to  frosted  silver.  But  when  its  fractures  are  very  ex- 
tensive, tiie  exposed  faces  have  a  very  brilliant  lustre. 
Nothing  can  be  more  exquisite  than  a  fresh,  cleanly- 
fractured  berg  surface. 

A'oyagers  speak  of  the  effects  of  A  rctic  refraction  in 
language  as  exact  and  mathematical  as  their  own  cor- 
rection tables.  It  ahrost  seems  as  if  their  minute  ob- 
servations of  dip-sectors  and  repeating-circles  had  left 
them  no  scope  for  picturesque  sublimity.  This  may 
excuse  a.  literal  transcript  from  my  diary,  which  runs 
perhaps  into  the  other  extreme. 

"Friday,  11  P.M.  A  strip  of  horizon, commencing 
about  8°  to  the  east  of  the  sun,  and  between  it  and 


k 

, 

' 

f 

f 

; 


r: 


s 


mi 


SI' '  % 


Ms 


it 


III 

IjU' 


378 


W0NDEE8    OF    REFRACTION. 


the  land,  resembled  an  extended  plain,  covered  with 
the  debris  of  ruined  cities.  No  effort  of  imagination 
was  necessary  for  me  to  travel  from  the  true  watery 
horizon  to  the  liilse  one  of  refraction  above  it,  and 
there  to  see  huge  structures  lining  an  aerial  ocean- 
margin.  Some  of  rusty,  Egyptian,  rubbish-clogged 
propyla,  and  hypoethral  courts  —  some  tapering  and 
columnar,  like  Palmyra  and  Baalbec — some  with 
architrave  and  portico,  like  Telmessus  or  Athens,  or 
else  vague  and  grotto-like,  such  as  dreamy  memories 
recalled  of  Ellora  and  Carli. 

"  I  can  hardly  realize  it  as  I  write ;  but  it  was  no 
trick  of  fancy.  The  things  were  there  half  an  hour 
ago.  I  saw  them,  cjipricious,  versatile,  full  of  fonns, 
but  bright  and  definite  as  the  phases  of  sober  life. 
And  as  my  eyes  ran  round  upon  the  marvelous  and 
varying  scene,  every  one  of  these  well-rcmcnibcred 
cities  rose  before  me,  built  up  by  some  suggestive  feat- 
ure of  the  ice. 

"  An  iceberg  is  one  of  God's  own  buildings,  preach- 
ing its  lessons  of  humility  to  the  miniature  structures 
of  man.  Its  material,  one  colossal  Pentelicus;  its  mass, 
the  representative  of  power  in  repose ;  its  distribution, 
simulating  every  architectural  type.  It  makes  one 
smile  at  those  classical  remnants  which  our  own  pe- 
riod reproduces  in  its  Madeleines,  Walhallas,  and  Gi- 
rard  colleges,  like  university  poems  in  the  dead  lan- 
guages. Still,  we  can  compare  them  with  the  iceberg; 
for  the  ssime  standard  measures  both,  as  it  does  Cliim- 
bora/.o  and  the  Hill  of  Ilowth.  But  this  thing  of  re- 
fraction is  supernatural  througliout.  The  wildest  frolic 
of  an  opium-eater  s  revery  is  nothing  to  the  phantas- 
magoria of  the  sky  to-night.  Karnaks  of  ice,  turned 
upside  down,  were  resting  upon  rainbow-colored  ped- 


■ml 


OFF     UPERNAVIK. 


379 


estals :  great  needles,  obelisks  of  pure  whiteness,  shot 
up  above  their  false  horizons,  and,  after  an  hour-glass- 
like contraction  at  their  point  of  union  with  their  du- 
plicated images,  lost  themselves  in  the  blue  of  the 
upper  sky. 

"While  I  was  looking — the  sextant  useless  in  my 
hand,  for  I  could  not  think  of  angles — a  blurred  and 
wavy  change  came  over  the  fantastic  picture.  Pris- 
matic tintings,  too  vague  to  admit  of  dioptric  analysis, 
began  to  margin  my  architectural  marbles,  and  the 
scene  faded  like  one  of  Fresnel's  dissolving  vicAvs. 
Suddenl}',  by  a  flash,  they  reappeared  in  full  beauty ; 
and,  just  as  I  was  beginning  to  note  in  my  memo- 
randum-book the  changes  which  this  brief  interval 
had  produced,  they  went  out  entirely,  and  left  a  nearly 
clear  horizon." 

The  6th  of  July  found  us  in  latitude  72°  54',  beat- 
ing to  windward,  as  usual,  between  "  the  pack "  and 
the  land.  This  land  was  of  some  interest  to  us,  for 
we  were  now  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Danish  set- 
tlement of  Upernavik. 

With  the  exception  of  one  subordinate  station,  eight- 
een miles  further  to  the  north,  this  is  the  last  of  the 
Danish  settlements.  It  is  the  jumping-ofl'  place  of  Arc- 
tic navigators — our  last  point  of  communication  with 
the  outside  world.  Here  the  British  explorers  put  the 
date  to  their  oflicial  reports,  and  send  home  their  last 
letters  of  good-by.  We  sent  ours  without  the  delay 
of  seeking  the  little  port ;  for  a  couple  of  kayacks 
boarded  us  twenty  miles  out  to  sea,  and  for  a  few  bis- 
cuits gladly  took  charge  of  our  dispatches.  The  hon- 
esty of  these  poor  Esquimaux  is  provci'bial.  Letters 
committed  to  their  care  are  delivered  with  unerring 
safety  to  the  superintendent  of  the  port  or  station. 


...  .^ 


T1 


n 


^ ' 


I      : 


:-iM 


!  ■      1 


i: 


i  I 


I      ' 


I  '^It  j 


-.*•■■ 


380 


FAST     IN    THE    ICE. 


We  were  boarded,  too,  by  an  oomiak,  or  woman's 
boat,  returning  from  a  successful  seal  hunt.  From 
the  crew,  consisting  of  three  women  and  four  men, 
we  purchased  a  goodly  stock  of  eider  eggs  and  three 
young  seals. 

July  7.  We  had  now  passed  the  seventy-third  de- 
gree of  latitude  without  being  materially  retarded  by 
ice.  The  weather  was  one  unbroken  sunshine,  and 
worthier  of  the  Bay  of  Naples  than  Baffin's.  The 
coast  on  our  right  hand  consisted  of  low  islands,  so 
grouped  as  to  resemble  continuous  land.  To  our  left 
was  a  coast  of  a  different  character — the  ice. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th,  a  large  vacant  sheet  of 
water  showed  itself  to  the  westward,  penetrating  the 
ice  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach ;  and  from  the  top- 
mast-head we  could  see  the  southern  margin  of  this 
ice  losing  itself  in  a  clear,  watery  horizon.  It  Avas  a 
strong  temptation.  Our  commander  deterniincd  to 
try  for  a  passage  through. 

"  We  now  entered  fairly  the  so-thought  open  water, 
keeping  the  shore  on  our  starboard  beam,  and  steering 
for  the  northeast  and  north,  at  a  rate  of  six  knots, 
through  an  apparently  unobstructed  sea.  But  the 
sanguine  anticipations  of  our  commander  Avere  soon 
to  be  moderated.  By  four  in  the  afternoon,  after  plac- 
ing at  least  fifty  miles  between  us' and  the  coast,  the 
leads  began  to  close  around  us.  Fearing  a  sepanition 
from  the  Rescue,  we  took  her  in  tow  and  continued 
our  efforts ;  but  from  5  P.  M.  imtil  the  termination  of 
the  day,  our  progress  was  absolutely  nothing.  The 
morning  of  the  8th  opened  upon  us  fast  in  summer 
ice. 

^^  July  9.  Although  we  commenced  bright  and  early 
to  warp  our  way  through  the  impacted  ice,  we  found, 


"  1'llALK.lNU. 


KAYACKS. 


OOMIAK,  OR   WOMAN  S    DOAT. 


I       I 


i-i! 


I    i 


Lsi      t!* 


*M   5> 


i 


after  mucl 
about  thre 
'beset/  an 
rencAv  our 

What  tl 
plain,  for  tl 
some  otliei 
know  that 
sea  on  a  f'r 
a  quiet  ri^ 
swing  at  ai 
in  these  A: 

Let  us  1 
two  of  the 
aiul  head! I 
about  two 
the  eaptaii 
"  Somethin 
iceberg  on 
the  ice ;  o 
taking  the 
station  on 

Before  }' 
and  near  i 
cent  fragni 

Nov;  coi 
work  with 
The  brig's 
are  statiom 
Presently  c 
mander,  "  ] 
the  yards  ; 
brig  turns 
bangs  her  ( 


ARCTIC    NAVIGATION. 


383 


after  much  labor,  that  <he  entire  day's  reward  was 
about  tliree  miles.  We  arc  now  again  Cast,  completely 
*  beset,'  and  only  waiting  to  rest  the  crew  before  we 
rene^v  our  efforts." 

What  these  efforts  were  it  may  be  as  well  to  ex- 
plain, for  the  benefit  of  fireside  navigators,  and  perhaps 
some  others.  Those  who  go  down  to  tiie  sea  in  ships 
know  that  it  is  easy  enough  to  drive  along  in  a  clear 
sea  on  a  free  wind,  or  to  haul  into  dock,  or  to  warp  up 
a  quiet  river,  butting  aside  the  lazy  vessels  as  they 
swing  at  anchor.  How  do  we  sail,  and  haul,  and  warp 
in  these  Arctic  Seas ! 

Let  us  begin  by  imagining  a  vessel,  or,  for  variety, 
two  of  them,  speeding  along  at  eight  knots  an  hour, 
and  heading  directly  for  a  long,  low  margin  of  ice 
about  two  miles  off.  "D'ye  see  any  opening?"  cries 
tiie  captain,  hailing  an  officer  on  the  foretopsail-yard. 
"  Something  like  '  a  lead '  a  little  to  leeward  of  that 
iceberg  on  our  port-bow."  In  a  little  while  we  near 
the  ice ;  our  light  sails  are  got  in,  our  conunander 
taking  the  place  of  the  officer,  Avho  has  resumed  his 
station  on  the  deck. 

Before  you,  in  a  plain  of  solid  ice,  is  a  huge  iceberg, 
and  near  it  a  black,  zigzag  canal,  checkered  with  re- 
cent fragments. 

Nov;  commences  the  process  of  "conning."  Such 
work  with  the  helm  is  not  often  seen  in  ordinary  seas. 
The  brig's  head  is  pointed  for  the  open  gap ;  the  watch 
are  stationed  at  the  braces ;  a  sort  of  silence  prevails. 
Presently  comes  down  the  stentorian  voice  of  our  com- 
mander, "  Ilard-a-starboard,"  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  yards  yield  to  the  ready  haul  at  the  braces.  The 
brig  turns  her  nose  into  a  sudden  indentation,  and 
bangs  her  quarter  against  a  big  lump  of  "  swashing  " 


I 


:}    hi: 


m 


B   : 


m 


§ 


■y\ 


I      ■■ 


if 


384 


AllCTIC    NAVIGATION. 


ice.  "  Steady  there !  "  For  half  a  minute  not  a  sound, 
until  a  second  yell — "Down, down!  lurddown!"  and 
then  we  rub,  and  scrape,  and  jam,  and  thrust  aside, 
and  are  thrust  aside ;  but  somehow  or  other  lind  our- 
selves in  an  open  canal,  losing  itself  in  the  distance. 
This  is  "a  lead." 

As  we  move  on.  congratulating  ourselves — if  we 
think  about  the  thing  at  all — that  we  are  "  good  "  for 
a  few  hundred  yards  more,  a  sudden  oxclamation,  ad- 
dressed to  nobody,  but  suflficientl  '  divtinctive,  comes 
from  the  yard-arm  (we'll  call  it  "pshaw! "),  and,  look- 
ing ahead,  we  see  that  our  "lead"  is  getting  narrower, 
its  sides  edging  toward  each  other — it  is  losing  its 
straightness.  At  the  same  moment  comes  a  compli- 
cated succession  of  orders :  "  Ilehu-a-starboard ! " 
"Port!"  "Easv!"  "So!"  " Stead t'e-fc-ce/"  "Hard- 
a-port! "  " Hard,  hard,  hard ! "  (scrape,  scratch,  thump! ) 
"Eugh!'  an  anomalous  grunt,  and  we  are  jammed 
fast  between  two  great  ice-fields  of  unknown  extent. 
The  captain  comes  down,  and  we  all  go  quietly  to 
supper. 

Next  come  some  processes  unconnected  with  the 
sails,  our  wings.  These  Avill  explain,  after  Arctic 
fashion,  the  terms  "heave,"  and  "w^irp,"  and  "track," 
and  "  haul,"  for  we  are  now  beset  in  ice,  and  what  lit- 
tle wind  we  have  is  dead  ahead.  A  couple  of  hands, 
under  orders,  of  course,  seize  an  iron  hook  or  "  ice-an- 
chor," of  which  we  have  two  sizes,  one  of  forty,  and 
another  of  about  a  hundred  pounds.  With  this  they 
jump  from  the  bows,  and  "  plant  it "  in  the  ice  alicad, 
close  to  the  edge  of  the  crack,  along  which  we  wi.sli 
to  force  our  way.  Once  fast,  you  slip  a  hawser  around 
its  smaller  end,  and  secure  it  from  slips  by  a  "  mous- 
ing" of  rope-yarn.     The  slack  of  the  hawser  is  passi'd 


; 


HEAVING     AND     WARPING. 


385 


around  the  shaft  of  our  patent  winch — an  apparatus 
of  cogs  and  levers  standing  in  our  bows — and  every 
thing,  in  far  less  time  than  it  has  taken  me  to  describe 
it,  is  ready  for  "  heaving." 

Then  comes  the  hard  work.  The  hawser  is  hauled 
taut;  the  strain  is  increased;  everybody,  captain,  cook, 
steward,  and  doctor,  is  taking  a  spell  at  the  "  pump 
handles"  or  overhauling  the  warping  gear ;  for  dignity 
'^loes  not  take  care  of  its  hands  in  the  middle  pack ; 
until  at  last,  if  the  floes  be  not  too  obdurate,  they 
separate  by  the  wedge  action  of  our  bows,  and  we 
ibrcc  our  way  into  a  little  cleft,  whicli  is  kept  open  on 
either  side  by  the  vessel's  beam.  But  the  quiescence, 
the  equilil)rium  of  the  ice,  which  allows  it  to  he  thus 
severed  at  its  line  of  junction,  is  rare  enougli.  Often- 
times wo  heave,  and  haul,  and  sweat,  and,  aft (>r  parting 
ii  ton-inch  hawser,  go  to  bed  wet,  and  ti  vd,  iind  dis- 
contented, with  nothing  but  experience  to  pay  for  our 
toil.    This  is  "  warping.'' 

But  let  us  suppose  that,  after  many  hours  of  this 
sort  of  unprofitable  labor,  the  floes  release  tlieir  press- 
ure, or  t.ie  ice  becomes  frail  and  light.  '•  Get  ready 
the  lines!  "  Out  jumps  an  imfortunate  with  a  forty- 
pound  "  hook  "  ui)on  his  shoulder,  and,  after  one  or  two 
(luckings,  tumbles  over  the  ice  and  plants  his  anchor 
on  a  distant  cape,  in  line  with  our  wished-for  direction. 
The  poor  fellow  has  done  more  than  carry  his  anchor; 
for  a  long  white  cord  has  been  securely  fastened  to  it, 
which  they  "pay  out"  from  aboard  ship  as  occasion 
requires.  It  passes  inboard  through  a  block,  and  then, 
with  a  iew  artistic  turns,  around  the  capstan.  Its 
"slack"  or  loose  end  is  carried  to  a  little  windlass  at 
our  main-mast.     Now  comes  the  Avarping  again.     The 

lirst  or  heavy  warping  we  called  "  heaving : "  this  last 

2w 


1       i 


\ 


il 


386 


PROSPECT     OF     ESCAPE. 


is  a  civilized  performance;  "all  hands"  walking  round 
with  the  capstan-bars  to  the  click  of  its  iron  pauls,  or 
else,  if  the  watch  he  fresh,  to  a  jolly  chorus  of  sailors' 


songs. 


I-. 


We  have  made  a  few  hundred  yards  of  this  light 
warping,  when  the  floes,  never  at  rest,  open  into  a  tort- 
uous canal  again.  We  can  dispense  with  the  slow 
traction  of  the  capstan.  The  same  whalc-liiie  is 
passed  out  ahead,  and  a  party  of  hmnan  horses  take 
us  in  tow.  Each  man — or  horse,  if  you  })lease — has 
a  canvas  strap  passing  over  his  shoulder  and  fastened 
to  the  tow-line;  or.  nautically,  as  this  is  a  cliapter  ex- 
planatory of  terms,  "  toggled  to  the  warp."  This  har- 
nessing is  no  slight  comfort  to  hands  Avet  Avith  water 
at  the  Ireezing  point ;  and  with  its  aid  they  tug  along, 
sometimes  at  a  Aveary  walk,  and  sometimes  at  a  dog- 
trot.    This  is  '•  tracking." 

When  we  coidd  neither  "heave,"  nor  "warp,"  nor 
"  track,"  nor  sail,  we  resorted  to  all  sorts  of  useless  ex- 
pedients, such  as  sawing,  cutting,  and  vainly  striving 
to  force  our  way  into  a  more  hopeful  neighl)orhood. 
It  Avas  long  before  experience  taught  us  to  sjiare  our- 
selves this  useless  labor. 

We  had  been  three  weeks  comjdetely  imprisoned, 
and  the  season  for  useful  search  was  rapidly  Hitting 
by,  when,  on  the  27th  of  July,  came  the  dawning 
promise  of  escape. 

A  steady  breeze  had  been  bloAving  for  several  days 
from  the  ncjrtliAvard  and  westAvard,  and  under  its  in- 
fluence the  ice  had  so  relaxed,  that,  had  not  tiie  wind 
Infcn  dead  ahead,  Ave  should  liave  attemped  snil". 
(hu-  tk)e  surface,  disturbed  by  these  ncAV  inllucnoos 
gave  us  a  constantly-shifting  topography.  It  Avas  cu- 
rious to  sec  the  rapidity  of  the  transformations.    At 


one  mome 

with  a  wo 

our  bows  I 

post  clogg-e 

lanes  were 

hecoming  j 

for  five  inir 

But  chan 

lowering,  th 

fallen  eiglit 

Late  on  t\ 

day  of  unpr< 

eastward. 

like  Avater  w 

30m.  P.M.  w 

leeiiiigs  of  jo 

wind  soon  i'n 

along  to  the  i 

Broken  floes 

sides  of  us;  h 

l^ored  tJifoug! 

Bay. 

^fter  a  littl 

though  our  wi 

liardly  be  calj 

set  in,  makini 

ows  indeed  hyl 

T'le  ice,  toe 

rotten,  haJf-thl 

heavy  floes  ei/ 

'^'Pf-med  to  staj 

I^rcsentiy  A\f 

'■6«,  on  a  jpe 

^vas  JIG  Jieip  fJ 


BORING. 


387 


one  moment  we  were  closed  in  by  ice  three  feet  thick, 
with  a  worn-down  berg  fifty  feet  deep  on  our  beam ; 
our  bows  buried  in  hummocky  masses,  and  our  stern- 
post  clogged  with  frozen  sludge :  in  ten  minutes  open 
lanes  were  radiating  from  us  in  every  direction,  cracks 
becoming  rivers,  and  puddles  lakes :  warping  ahead 
for  five  minutes,  every  thing  around  us  was  ice  again. 

But  changes  were  going  on.  The  sky  had  become 
lowering,  the  gulls  had  left  us,  and  the  barometer  had 
fallen  eight  tenths  since  the  day  before. 

Late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  28th,  after  another  long 
day  of  unprofitable  warping,  the  wind  shifted  to  the 
eas>tward.  The  floes  opened  still  wider,  something 
like  water  was  visible  to  the  north  and  east,  and  at  9h. 
80m.  P.M.  we  "  cast  off,"  set  our  main-sail,  and,  with 
feelings  of  joyous  relief,  began  to  bore  the  ice.  This 
wind  soon  freshened  to  a  southeaster,  and  we  dashed 
along  to  the  northeast  in  a  sea  studded  with  icebergs. 
Broken  floes  running  out  into  "  streams"  were  on  all 
sides  of  us  ;  but,  only  too  glad  to  be  once  more  free,  we 
bored  through  them  for  the  inshore  circuit  of  Melville 
Bay. 

After  a  little  while  tlie  horizon  thickened ;  and  al- 
though our  wind,  surrounded  as  we  were  b\  ice,  could 
hardly  be  called  a  gale,  heavy  undulations  began  to 
set  in,  making  an  uncomfortable  sea,  rendered  danger- 
ous indeed  by  the  v'lwashing  ice  and  a  growiiig  fog. 

The  ice,  too,  after  a  little  while,  was  no  longer  the 
rotten,  half-thawed  material  of  the  middle  pack,  but 
heavy  floes  eight  or  ten  feet  of  solid  thickness,  which 
seemed  to  stand  out  from  the  shore. 

Presently  we  found  ourselves,  urged  by  wind  iind 
sea,  on  a  lee  ridge  of  undulating  fragments.  There 
was  no  help  for  it :  with  grinding  crash  we  entered  its 


;   ;* 


^    i 


mi 


■  'i 

m 

1 

i 

% 

r, 

I: 


388 


MELVILLE    BAIT. 


^ 


tumultuous  margin.  Before  we  had  bored  into  it  more 
than  ten  yards,  we  were  on  the  edge  of  a  nearly  sub- 
merged iceberg,  which,  not  being  large  enough  to  re- 
sist  the  swell,  rolled  fearfully.  The  sea  dashed  in  an 
angry  surf  over  its  inclined  sides,  rattling  the  icy  frag- 
ments  or  "  brash"  against  its  irregular  surface.  Our 
position  reminded  me  of  the  scenes  so  well  described 
by  Beechy  in  the  voyage  of  the  Dorothea  and  Trent. 
For  a  time  we  were  awkwardly  placed,  but  Wvi  bored 
through ;  and  the  Rescue,  after  skirting  the  same  ob- 
struction, managed  also  to  get  through  without  damage. 

We  continued  to  run  along  with  our  top-saii  yard 
on  the  cap,  but  the  growing  fog  made  it  impossible  to 
keep  on  our  course  very  long.  After  several  encoun- 
ters with  the  floating  hummocks,  we  succeeded  in  ty- 
ing fast  to  a  heavy  floe,  which  seemed  to  be  connected 
with  the  land,  and  were  thus  moored  within  that  mys- 
terious circuit  known  as  Melville  Bay. 

It  is  during  the  transit  of  this  bay  that  most  of 
the  catastrophes  occur  which  have  made  the  statistics 
of  tlie  whalers  so  fearful.  It  was  here,  about  twenty 
miles  to  the  south  of  us,  that  in  one  year  more  than 
one  thousand  human  beings  were  cast  shelterless  upon 
the  ice,  their  ships  ground  up  before  their  eyes.  It  is 
rarely  that  a  season  goes  by  in  which  the  passage  is 
attempted  without  disaster. 

The  inshore  side  of  the  indentation  is  lined  by  ti 
sv/eep  of  glacier,  through  which  here  and  there  tlio 
dark  headlands  of  the  coast  force  themselves  with  se- 
vere contrast.  Outside  of  this,  the  shore,  if  we  can 
call  it  such,  is  again  lined  witii  a  heavy  ledge  ot 
ground  ice,  thicker  and  more  permanent  tlian  that  iu 
motion.  This  extends  out  for  miles,  forming  an  icy 
margin  or  beach,  known  technically  as  the  "  land  ice," 


or  "  the  ftif 

through  w 

action,  rcce 

and  curren 

canal  alon^ 

barrier  of  c 

Our  initi 

on^nous  en 

scene  o{  n( 

throiigh  wh 

drifted  by  u 

tj  escape  tl 

Iniagine  a 

down  upon 

The  imm 

eighteen  mil 

the  glacier. 

tioes.  and  hu 

tery  conflict, 

and  hushed  b 

had  vvitnosse 

wont  out  w 

more  clo.seh'l 


at  the  ed 
times  twi 


b^ 


teuti 


gos 
-mt}J 


rgs  firmly 


Oil  was 


^vhicli  wern  d 
wt'  couKl  noM 

oft 


»i  Mie.so  st 
iHMM,  nie 


and  I'orty  fee 
it  M-as  th< 


founded  u 


s  a 


liilf!     ' 


BERGS. 


889 


or  "  the  fast."  Against  this  margin,  the  great  "  drift" 
through  which  we  had  been  passing  exerts  a  remitting 
action,  receding  sometimes  under  the  influence  of  wind 
and  currents  so  as  to  open  a  tortuous  and  uncertain 
canal  along  its  edge-,  at  others  closing  against  it  in  a 
barrier  of  contending  floes  and  bergs. 

Our  initiation  into  the  mysteries  of  this  region  was 
onnnous  enough.  It  blew  a  gale.  The  offing  was  a 
scene  of  noisy  contention,  obscured  by  a  dense  fog, 
throiigh  which  rose  the  tops  of  the  icebergs  as  they 
drifted  by  us.  Twice  in  the  night  we  were  called  up 
ij  escape  these  bergs  by  warping  out  of  their  path. 
Imagine  a  mass  as  large  as  the  Parthenon  bearing 
down  upon  you  before  a  storm-wind ! 

The  immediate  site  of  our  anchorage  was  about 
eighteen  miles  from  the  Black  Hills,  which  rose  above 
the  ghicier.  It  was  truly  an  iron-bound  coast,  bergs, 
Hoes,  and  hummock  ridges,  in  all  the  disarray  of  win- 
tery  conflict,  cemented  in  a  basis  of  ice  ten  feet  thick, 
and  lashed  by  an  angry  sea.  It  was  the  first  time  I 
had  witnessed  the  stupendous  results  of  ice  action.  I 
went  out  with  Captain  De  Haven  to  observe  them 
more  closely.  The  hummocks  had  piled  themselves 
at  the  edges  of  the  floes  in  a  set  of  rugged  walls,  some- 
times twenty  feet  high ;  and  here  and  there  were  ice- 
bergs firmly  incorporated  in  the  vast  plain.  Our  at- 
tention was  of  course  directed  more  anxiously  to  those 
which  were  drii'ting  at  large  upon  the  open  water;  but 
we  could  not  help  being  impressed  by  the  solid  majes- 
ty  of  these  stationary  mountains.  The  height  of  one 
of  tiHMii,  measured  by  the  sextant,  was  two  hundred 
and  I'orty  feet. 

It  was  the  motion  of  the  floating  bergs  that  sur- 
rounded  us  at  this  time,  which  first  gave  me  the  idea 


1 1 


r  ■■    < 


iX    '\M 


\nu 


M: 


fi\- 


■  it- 


\i\k 


390 


A    RACE. 


of  a  great  under-current  to  the  northward.  Their  drift 
followed  some  system  of  advance  entirely  independent 
of  the  wind,  and  not  apparently  at  variance  with  the 
received  views  of  a  great  southern  current.  On  the 
night  of  the  30th,  while  the  surface  ice  or  floe  was 
drifting  to  the  southward  with  the  wind,  the  hergs 
were  making  a  northern  progress,  crushing  through 
the  floes  in  the  very  eye  of  the  hreeze  at  a  measured 
rate  of  a  mile  and  a  half  an  hour.  The  disproportion 
that  uniformly  suhsists  hetween  the  submerged  and 
upper  masses  of  a  floating  berg  makes  it  a  good  index 
of  the  deep  sea  current,  especially  when  its  movement 
is  against  the  wind.  1  noticed  very  many  ice-mount- 
ains traveling  to  the  north  in  opposition  to  both  wind 
and  surface  ice.  One  of  them  we  recognized  five  days 
afterward,  nearly  a  hundred  mixes  on  its  northern 
journey. 

In  the  so-called  night,  "all  hands"  were  turned  to, 
and  the  old  system  of  warping  was  renewed.  The 
unyielding  ice  made  it  a  slow  process,  but  enough 
was  gained  to  give  us  an  entrance  to  some  clear  wa- 
ter about  a  mile  in  apparent  length.  While  we  were 
warping,  one  of  these  current-driven  bergs  kept  us 
constant  company,  and  at  one  time  it  was  a  regular 
race  between  us,  for  the  narrow  passage  we  were 
striving  to  reach  would  have  been  completely  barri- 
caded if  our  icy  opponent  had  got  ahead. 

This  exciting  race,  against  wind  and  drift,  and  with 
the  Rescue  in  tow,  was  at  its  height  when  we  reached 
a  point  where,  by  warping  around  our  opponent,  we 
might  be  able  to  nuike  sail.  Three  active  men  were 
instantly  dispatched  to  prepare  the  warps.  One  took 
charge  of  the  hawser,  and  another  of  the  iron  crow  or 
chisel  which  is  used  to  cut  the  hole;  the  third,  a 


brawny  se 
ing  the  an 
solid  ice,  w 
ran  across 
about  twic 
rest.     One 
mass,  a  sec 
and  chain 
anchor  and 
ciful  Godse 
so  cleanly 
fractured  si 
along  with 
^y  the  capts 
safe  on  boai 
our  cruise,  v 
"August  2 
About  2  P.j\J 
enabled  us  tc 
tie  airs  for  a 
losing  what 
our  i'ri(!2id  th 
ft^v  viirds  as 
"iVe  have 
have  lo.st  the 
conios  back 
circuit  oi'  Mp; 
spangled  jH'K 
%  on  his  til 
parison  j'Voiu 
^hi,s  aljout  s 
tive  at  tho  b 
floors,'  as  the/ 
but  ^ir," 


OUR    PROSTECTS. 


391 


brawny  seaman,  named  Costa,  was  in  the  act  of  lift- 
ing the  anchor  and  driving  it  by  main  force  into  the 
soKd  ice,  when,  with  a  roar  like  near  thunder,  a  crack 
ran  across  the  berg,  and  almost  instantly  a  segment 
about  twice  the  size  of  our  ship  was  severed  from  the 
rest.  One  man  remained  oscillating  on  the  principal 
mass,  a  second  escaped  by  jumping  to  the  back  ropes 
and  chain  shrouds  of  the  bowsprit ;  but  poor  Costa ! 
anchor  and  all,  disappeared  in  the  chasm !  By  a  mer- 
ciful Godsend,  the  sunken  fragment  had  broken  off 
so  cleanly  that,  when  it  rose,  it  scraped  against  the 
fractured  surface,  and  brought  up  its  living  freight 
along  with  it.  Scared  half  to  death,  he  was  caught 
by  the  captain  as  he  passed  the  jib-boom,  and  brought 
safe  on  board.  This  incident,  coming  thus  early  in 
our  cruise,  was  a  useful  warning. 

^^ August  2.  'Warping!'  Tired  of  the  very  word? 
About  2  P.M.  a  lead,  less  obstructed  than  its  fellows, 
enabled  us  to  crowd  on  the  canvas,  and  sail  with  gen- 
tle airs  lor  about  two  miles  to  the  eastward,  and  then, 
losing  what  little  wind  we  had,  we  tied  up  again  to 
our  friend  the  land  ice ;  the  little  Rescue,  as  usual,  a 
few  yards  astern. 

"We  have  learned  to  love  tlie  sunshine,  though  we 
have  lost  the  night  that  gives  it  value  to  others.  It 
comes  back  to  us  this  ev(Miing,  after  the  gale,  with  a 
circuit  of  sparkling  and  imaginative  beauty,  like  the 
spangled  petticoat  of  a.  ballet-dancer  in  full  twirl  to  a 
boy  on  his  first  visit  to  thj  opera.  1  borrow  the  com- 
parison from  one  of  my  mess-mates;  but,  in  truth,  all 
this  about  sunsliine  and  warmth  is  only  compara- 
tive at  the  best,  for,  though  writing  on  deck>  'out  of 
doors,'  as  they  say  at  home,  the  thermometers  give  us 
but  43'\" 


U. 


P 


ij 


J  -t 


:i:    -I 


!  \ 


'\ 


I 


1 


ii 


;  't 


n 


M 


m 

ii 

;  i 

^ 


;     1 


1  '1 


m 

I 


m 


H  1    I! 
IJ 


mi 


■  ^ 


392 


Melville's    monument. 


11 


The  bergs  were  an  interesting  subject  of  sudy.  I 
counted  one  morning  no  less  than  two  hundred  and 
ten  of  them  from  our  decks,  forming  a  beaded  line  from 
theN.N.W.totheS.S.E. 

^'August  10.  Another  day  of  sunshine.  Were  we 
in  the  Mediterranean,  there  could  not  be  a  warmer 
sky.  It  ends  with  the  sky  though ;  for  our  thermom- 
eters fell  at  four  A.M.  to  24°.  A  careful  set  of  observa- 
tions with  Green's  standard  thermometers  gave  18° 
as  the  difference  between  the  sunshine  and  shade  at 
noonday.  The  young  ice  was  nearly  an  inch  thick. 
Myriads  of  Auks  were  seen,  and  the  usual  supply  duly 
slaughtered. 

"Melville's  Mcnument  appeared  to-day  under  a  new 
phase,  rising  out  from  the  surrounding  floe  ice,  either 
a  salient  peninsula  or  an  isolated  rock. 

"The  land  ice  measured  but  five  feet  seven  inches, 
the  reduced  growth,  probably,  of  a  single  season.  The 
open  leads  multiply,  for  we  made  under  sail  about 
fifteen  miles  N.N.W." 

As  the  next  day  glided  in,  the  skies  became  over- 
cast, and  the  wind  rose.  Mist  gathered  about  the 
horizon,  shutting  out  the  icebergs.  The  floes,  which 
had  opened  before  with  a  slender  wind  from  the  north- 
ward, now  shed  off"  dusty  wreaths  of  snow,  and  began 
to  close  rapidly. 

Moving  along  in  our  little  river  passage,  we  ob- 
served  it  growing  almost  too  narrow  for  navigation, 
and  every  now  and  then,  where  a  projecting  cape 
stretched  out  toward  this  advancing  ice,  we  had  to 
run  the  gauntlet  between  tlie  opposing  margins. 

It  is  under  these  circumstances,  with  a  gale  prob- 
ably outside,  and  a  fog  gathering  around,  that  the 
whalers,  less  strengthened  than  ourselves,  and  taught 


HUMMOCKING. 


393 


by  a  fearful  experience,  seek  protecting  bights  among 
the  floes  or  cut  harbors  in  the  ice.  For  us,  the  word 
dehiv  did  not  enter  into  our  commander's  tlioughts. 
We  liad  not  purchased  caution  by  disaster ;  and  it 
was  essential  to  success  that  we  should  niake  the 
most  of  this  Godsend,  a  "slant"  from  the  southeast. 

We  pushed  on ;  but  the  Rescue,  less  fortunate  than 
ourselves,  could  not  follow.  She  was  jammed  in  be- 
tween two  closing  surfaces.  We 'were  looking  out 
for  a  temporary  niche  in  which  to  secure  ourselves, 
when  we  were  challenged  to  the  bear  hunt  1  have 
spoken  of  a  few  pages  back. 

Upon  regaining  the  deck  with  Mr.  Lovell's  prize,  we 
were  struck  with  the  indications  of  a  brooding  wind 
outside.  The  ice  was  closing  in  every  direction ;  and 
our  nuister,  Mr.  Murdaugh,  had  no  alternative  but  to 
tie  up  and  await  events.  The  Rescue  did  the  same, 
some  three  hundred  yards  to  the  southward. 

By  five  A.M.,  a  projecting  edge  of  tlie  outside  floe 
came  into  contact  with  our  own,  at  a  point  midway 
between  the  two  vessels.  This  assailing  floe  was  three 
feet  eight  inches  thick,  perhaps  a  mile  in  diameter, 
and  moving  at  a  rate  of  a  knot  an  hour.  Its  weight 
was  some  two  or  three  millions  of  tons.  So  irresistible 
was  its  momentum,  that,  as  it  impinged  against  the 
solid  margin  of  the  land  ice,  there  was  no  recoil,  no  in- 
terruption to  its  progress.  The  elastic  material  cor- 
rugated before  the  enormous  pressure  ;  then  craclced, 
then  crumbled,  and  at  last  rose,  the  lesser  over  the 
greater,  sliding  up  in  great  inclined  planes:  and  these, 
again,  breaking  by  their  weigit  and  their  continued 
impulse,  toppled  over  in  long  lines  of  fragmentary  ice. 

Thi*  imposing  process  of  dynanucs  is  called 
"Hummocking."     Its  most  striking  feature  was  it:f 


m 


■tm  ,1 


HI 


894 


A    PINCH. 


H'W 


unswerving,  unchecked  continuousness.  The  mere 
commotion  was  hardly  proportioned  either  to  the  in- 
tensity of  the  force  or  the  tremendous  effects  which  it 
produced.  Tables  of  white  marble  were  thrust  into 
the  air,  as  if  by  invisible  machinery. 

First,  an  inclined  face  would  rise,  say  ten  feet ;  then 
you  would  hear  a  grinding,  tooth-pulling  crunch  :  it 
has  cracked  at  its  base,  and  a  second  is  sliding  up 
upon  it.  Over  this,  again,  comes  a  third ;  and  here- 
upon the  first  breaks  down,  carrying  with  it  the  sec- 
ond ;  and  just  as  you  are  expecting  to  see  the  whole 
pile  disappear,  up  comes  a  fourth,  larger  than  any  of 
the  rest,  and  converts  all  its  predecessors  into  a  cha- 
otic mass  of  crushed  nuirble.  Now  the  fragments  thus 
comminuted  are  about  the  size  of  an  old-l'ashioned 
Concstoga  wagon,  and  the  line  thus  eating  its  way  is 
several  hundred  yards  long. 

The  action  soon  began  to  near  our  brig,  which  now, 
fast  by  a  heavy  cable,  stood  bows  on  awaiting  the 
onset.  It  was  an  uncomfortable  time  for  us,  as  we 
momentarily  expected  it  to  "  nip"  her  sides,  or  bear 
her  down  with  the  pressure.  But,  thanks  to  the  in- 
verted wedge  action  of  her  bows,  she  shot  out  like  a 
squeezed  water-melon  seed,  snapping  her  hawser  like 
pack-thread,  and  backing  into  wider  quarters.  The 
Rescue  was  borne  almost  to  her  beam  ends,  but  event- 
ually rose  upon  the  ice. 

We  cast  off  again  about  7  A.M. ;  and  after  a  weari- 
some day  of  warping,  tracking,  towing,  ajid  sailing, 
advanced  some  six  or  eight  miles,  along  a  coast-line 
of  hills  to  the  northeast,  edged  with  glaciers. 

The  currents  were  such  as  to  entirely  destroy  our 
steerage  way.  Our  rudder  was  for  a  time  •iseless; 
and  the  surface  water  was  covered  by  ripple  marks 


THE  DEVILS   T11IMH. 


!1''' 


m 


w'hicli  flov 
13th  tho  s( 
as  other  en 
lore,  lined, 
ice  ;  and  fr 
ol'  those  lii 
heretofore 
hnes.  Am 
jerking  lit 
and  liniaeii 
too,  were  b 
the  Burgoi 

The  sho 
again  rose : 
as  tiiey  re( 
We  had  tri 
in  a  nearly 
to  lose  it. 
ready. 

"GP.M 
floating  in 
it  is  you  ('ill 
ently  conies 
enoo,  and  c 
you  800  phi 
notliiugelsf 
naiHoil  it,  be 
for  Mulcihei 
of  the  poles 
your  satisfa- 
it  contracts 
^vise,  and,  p 
of  colossal 
black  globe 


' 


ANurvL    lift:. 


nns 


vvliicli  flowed  in  strangely  looping  curves.  On  the 
I3th  the  sea  uhoundt'd  with  lil'e.  Ccloehili,  as  well 
as  other  entomostracan  forms  which  1  had  not  seen  be- 
fore, lined,  and,  in  I'act,  tinted  the  margins  of  the  floe 
ice  :  and  (or  tlie  first  time  I  noticed  among  them  some 
of  those  liigher  orders  of  crustacean  life,  which  had 
heretofore  been  only  found  adhering  to  our  warping 
lines.  Among  these  were  asellus  and  idotea,  and  that 
jerking  little  amphipod,  the  gammarus.  AcalophsB 
and  limaeina;  abounded  in  the  quiet  leads.  The  birds, 
too,  were  back  with  us,  tlu-  moUemoke,  the  Ivory  gull, 
the  Burgomaster,  and  the  torn . 

The  shore,  which  wo  had  been  s(  long  skirting, 
again  rose  into  mountains  ;  on  whose  southern  flanks, 
as  they  receded,  w^e  could  still  see  the  great  glacier. 
We  had  traced  it  all  the  way  from  the  Devil's  Thumb 
in  a  nearly  continuous  circuit;  now  we  were  about 
to  lose  it  The  icebergs  had  sensibly  diminishoil  al- 
ready. 

"6  P.INI  Refraction  again!  There  is  a  black  globe 
floating  in  the  air,  about  :r  north  of  the  sun.  What 
it  is  you  can  not  tell.  Is  it  a  bird  or  a  balloon  ?  Pres- 
ently comes  a  sort  of  shimmering  about  its  circismfer- 
enee,  and  on  a  sudden  it  changes  its  shape.  Noav 
you  see  plainly  w^hat  it  is.  It  is  a  grand  piano,  and 
nothing  else.  Too  quick  this  time  !  You  had  hardly 
na)iied  it,  before  it  was  an  anvil — an  anvil  large  enough 
for  Mulcil;er  and  his  Cyclops  to  beat  out  the  loadstone 
of  the  poles.  You  have  not  got  it  quite  adjusted  to 
your  satisfaction,  before  your  anvil  itself  is  changing; 
it  contracts  itself  centrewise,  and  rounds  itself  end- 
wise, and,  presto,  it  has  made  itself  duplicate — a  })air 
of  coloss-il  dumb-bells.  A  moment!  and  it  is  the 
black  globe  again." 


3"  I 


■>    , 


i   li 


ijijt 


306 


REFRACTION. 


About  an  hour  after  this  necromantic  juggle,  the 
whole  liorizon  became  distorted:  great  bergs  lifted 
themselves  above  it,  and  a  pearly  sky  and  penrly 
water  blended  with  each  other  in  such  a  way,  that 
you  could  not  determine  where  the  one  began  or  the 
otlier  ended.  Your  ship  was  in  the  concave  of  a  vast 
sphere ;  ice  shapes  of  indescribable  variety  around  you, 
floating,  like  yourself,  on  nothingness;  tlie  flight  of  a 
bird  as  apparent  in  the  deeps  of  the  sea  as  in  the 
continuous  element  above.  Nothing  could  be  more 
curiously  beautiful  than  our  consort  the  Kescue,  as 
she  lay  in  mid -space,  duplicated  by  her  secondary  im- 
age. 

This  unequally  refractive  condition  continued  on 
into  the  next  day  ;  diminishing  as  the  sun  approached 
his  merulian  altitude,  but  again  coming  back  in  the 
afternoon  with  augmented  intensity.  The  appearance 
at  night  was  more  wonderful  than  it  had  been  on  the 
12th.  I  am  desirous  to  give  the  impressions  it  nuvde 
on  me  at  the  moment,  and  I  therefore  copy  again 
from  my  journal,  without  erasing  or  modifying  a  sin- 
gle line. 

^^  August  13.  To-night,  at  ten  o'clock,  we  were  op- 
posite a  striking  cliff,  supposed  to  be  Cape  Melville, 
when,  attracted  by  the  irregular  radiation  from  the 
sun,  then  about  two  hours  from  the  lowest  point  of 
his  curve,  I  saw  suddenly  flaring  up  all  around  him 
the  siirns  of  active  combustion.  Great  volumes  of 
black  smoke  rose  above  the  horizon,  narrowing  and 
expanding  as  it  rolled  away.  Black  specks,  to  which 
the  eye,  by  its  compensation  for  distance,  gave  the  size 
of  nuisses,  mingled  with  it,  rising  and  falling,  appear- 
ing and  disappearing;  and  above  all  this  was  the  pe- 
culiar w^avin  y  movement  of  air,  rarefied  by  an  adjacent 


REFRACTION. 


nor 


heat.     The  wliole  intervening  atmosphere  was  dis- 
tiirhed  and  flickering. 

*'  August  15.  The  Rescue,  which  has  proved  herself 
a  dull  .sailer,  had  lagged  astern  of  us,  when  our  master, 
Mr.  INIurdaugh,  ohserved  the  signal  of  'men  asjiore' 
flying  Iroin  her  peak.  We  were  now  as  far  north  as 
latitude  75°  58',  and  the  idea  of  human  life  someiiow 
or  other  involuntarily  connected  itself  with  disaster. 
A  boat  was  hastily  stocked  with  provisions  and  dis- 
patched for  the  shore.  Two  men  were  thore  upon 
the  land  ice,  gesticulating  in  grotesque  and  not  very 
decent  pantomime — genuino,  unmitigated  I'^squiniaux. 
Verging  on  7G°  is  a  far  northern  limit  for  human  life; 
yet  these  poor  animals  were  as  fat  as  the  bears  which 
we  killed  a  few  days  ago.  Their  hair,  inane-like, 
flowed  over  their  oily  cheeks,  and  their  countenances 
had  the  true  prognathous  character  seen  so  rarely 
among  the  adulterated  breeds  of  the  Danish  settle- 
ments.  They  were  jolly,  laughing  fellows,  full  of  so- 
cial feeling.  Their  dress  consisted  of  a  bear-skin  pair 
of  breeches,  considerably  the  worse  for  wear;  a  seal- 
skin jacket,  hooded,  but  not  pointed  at  its  skirt ;  and 
a  pair  of  coarsely-stitched  seal-hide  boots.  They  were 
armed  with  a  lance,  harpoon,  and  air-bladder,  for  spear- 
ing seals  upon  the  land  floe.  The  kaiack,  with  its 
host  of  resources,  they  seemed  unacquainted  with. 

"When  questioned  by  Mr.  Murdaugh,  to  whom  I 
owe  these  details,  they  indicated  five  huts,  or  1am- 
ilies,  or  individuals,  toward  a  sort  of  valley  between 
two  hills.  They  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  bread, 
and  rejected  salt  beef;  but  they  appeared  familiar 
with  ships,  and  would  have  gladly  invited  themselves 
to  visit  us,  if  the  oflicer  had  not  inhospitably  declined 
the  honor." 


\'\ 


I   i 


I  i; 


fW9>>     I  > •iipavmmi^ifpa 


398 


FROZEN    FAMILIES. 


It  was  not  very  far  from  Cape  York  that  we  met 
thtse  men.  They  belonged,  probably,  to  the  same  de- 
tached parties  of  seal  and  fish  catching  coast  nomads, 
that  were  met  by  Sir  John  Ross  in  his  voyage  of  1819, 
and  wliom  he  designated,  fancifully  enough,  as  the 
"Arctic  IlighUmders." 

Eleven  years  after  his  visit,  some  boat-crews,  from 
a  whaler  which  had  escaped  the  ice  disasters  of  1830, 
landed  at  nearly  the  same  spot,  and  made  for  a  group 
of  huts.  They  w^ere  struck  as  they  approached  them 
to  find  no  beaten  snow-tracks  about  the  entrance,  nor 
any  of  the  more  unsavory  indications  of  an  Esquimaux 
homestead.  The  riddle  was  read  when  they  lii'ttnl  up 
the  skill  curtain,  that  served  to  cover  at  once  doorway 
and  window.  Grouped  around  an  oil  less  laui}).  in  the 
attitudes  of  life,  were  four  or  five  human  corpses,  with 
darkened  lip  and  sunken  eyeball ;  but  all  else  preserved 
in  perf^iiuial  ice.  The  frozen  dog  lay  beside  his  frozen 
iruister,  and  the  child,  stark  and  stiff,  in  the  reindeer 
hood  which  enveloped  the  frozen  mother.  The  cause 
was  a  mystery,  f<M*  the  hunting  apparatus  was  near 
them,  and  the  bay  abounds  with  seals,the  habitual  luod, 
and  light,  ajid  fire  of  the  Esquimaux.  Perhaps  the  ex- 
cessive cold  had  shu*.  off"  their  supplies  for  a  time  by 
closing  the  ice-holeii — perhaps  an  epidemic  had  strick- 
en them.  Some  three  or  four  huts  that  were  near  had 
the  same  melancholy  furniture  of  extinct  life. 


■IQUIMAUX  ON  BNOW-SHUL 


TIIJ 


We  sa 
fortable  i 
^P(^'n  sue) 
ingthtu'l 
the  Nortl 
■\vere  no  ] 
shore,  oi"  t 
ingsuhsti 
3n  a  .sh( 
Beverlev.' 
fhe  C()a,«' 
'Tprecip, 
big  slow]  > 
wiild  distil 
rock,  whi! 
of  defridi 
w'ith  a  bnl 
could  iio( 
gave  to  til 
ilieJocalitf 
excuse  thil 
^lis  vera(!itj 

But  it 
i'lg  the 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  FHIST  AMEKICAN  EXPEDITION. 

(cOKTimJED.) 

AVe  sailed  along  the  coast  quiet!)',  but  with  the  com- 
fortable exciteinent  of  expee+ation.  We  tuid  not  yet 
seen  such  open  water,  and  v/ere  jiionientaniy  expect- 
ing the  change,  of  course,  which  wa.s  to  lead  us  through 
the  North  Water  to  Lancaster  Sound.  The  glaciers 
were  no  longer  near  the  water-line ;  but  an  escnrped 
shore,  of  the  usual  primary  structure,  gave  us  a  pleas- 
ing substitute. 

In  a  short  time  we  reached  the  "  Crimson  Cliffs  of 
Beverley,"  the  seat  of  the  often-described  "red  snow." 
The  coast  was  high  and  rugged,  the  sea-line  broken 
by  precipitous  sections  and  choked  by  detritus.  Sail- 
insr  slowly  along,  at  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles,  we 
could  distinctly  see  outcropping  fa ce>  of  red  fcldspathit; 
rock,  whikt  in  depending  positions,  between  the  cones 
of  detritus,  the  scanty  patches  of  snow  were  tinwd 
with  a  brick-dust  or  brown  stain.  As  j^et  indc  d  we 
could  not  see  the  "Crimson"  of  Sir  John  Koss.  wiio 
gave  to  this  spot  its  somewhat  euphonious  title ;  but 
the  locality  was  not  without  indications  which  should 
exvus(!  t!u>  gallant  navigator  from  imputation*;  againit 
ins  veracity  of  narrative. 

But  it  fell  calm,  and  I  had  an  op^K^rtuuity  of  visit- 
ing the  shore.     The  place  where  we  landed  was  in 


400 


THE     CRIMSON     CLIFFS. 


i' 


latitude  76°  04'  N.,  nearly.  It  was  a  little  cove,  bor- 
dered on  one  side  by  a  glacier ;  on  the  other,  watered 
by  distillations  from  it,  and.  green  with  kixuriant 
mosses.  It  was,  indeetl,  a  f^iiry  little  spot,  brightened, 
perhaps,  by  its  contrast  with  the  icy  element,  on  which 
I  had  been  floating  lor  a  month  and  a  half  belbre  ;  yet 
even  now,  as  it  comes  back  to  me  in  beautiful  com- 
panionship with  many  sweet  pla^'^'s  of  the  earth,  lam 
sure  that  its  charms  were  real. 

The  glacier  Cciine  dovvn  by  a  twisted  circuit  from  a 
deep  valley,  which  it  nearly  filled.  As  it  approached 
the  sea,  it  seemed  unable  to  spread  itself  over  the  horse- 
shoe-like expansion  in  which  we  stod  ;  but,  retaining 
still  the  impress  marks  of  its  own  little  valley  birth- 
place, it  rose  up  in  a  huge  dome-like  escarpment,  one 
side  frozen  to  the  I'lifFs,  the  other  a  wall  beside  us,  and 
the  end  a  rounded  mass  protruding  into  the  sea. 

Close  by  the  foot  of  its  precipitous  face,  in  a  fur- 
rowed water-course,  was  a  mountain  torrent,  which, 
emerging  from  the  point  at  which  the  glacier  met  the 
hill,  came  dashing  wildly  over  the  rocks,  green  with 
the  mosses  and  carices  of  Arctic  vegetation ;  while 
from  the  dome-like  summit  a  stream,  that  had  tun- 
neled its  way  through  the  ice  from  the  valley  still 
higher  above,  burst  out  like  a  fountain,  and  fell  in  a 
cascade  of  foam- whitened  water  into  the  sea. 

To  return  to  the  "  Crimson  Cliffs.^'  We  found  tho 
red  snow  in  greatest  abundance  upon  a  talus  fronting 
to  the  southwest,  Avhu'h  stretched  ol)li([uely  across  the 
glacier  at  the  seat  of  its  emergence  from  the  valley. 
It  was  hei'e  in  great  abundance,  staining  the  sui'face 
in  patches  six  or  eight  yards  in  diameter.  Similar 
patches  were  to  be  seen  at  short  inters  als  extending 
up  the  valley. 


Its  co]( 

bled,  M'itl 

served  cr; 

over  tlie  s 

nearly  cIk 

came  bro^ 

in  a  glass 

Its  colo 

scraping  a 

the  snow  I 

which  per 

some  eight 

At  4  P.J 

some  pleas. 

name  of  "  | 

the  north vvj 

traca  and  c. 

i'lg.     Tiie  p 

One  mile  fr 

bottom,  at  t\ 

"fiIIuj,"M- 

tiie  west,  ^Yi 

Al)oufc  e 

niidwa)'  ))et 

f<»regi'ou2id 

we  could 

foamiii<r  ton 

B}  nicjiiis 

so  clos<.  that 

A  few  ineh( 

die  shilling 

!i  ^vhaif.     T 

«s  to  liatlie 


J^ink,  deiiei 


o: 


t  11  a  ■ 


Bessie's     cove. 


401 


Its  color  was  a  deep  but  not  bright  red.  It  resem- 
bled, with  its  accoiupanying  impurities,  criislied  pre- 
served cranberries,  with  the  seed  and  capsule  strewn 
over  the  snow.  It  imparted  to  paper  drawn  o\^er  it  a 
nearly  cherry-red,  or  perhaps  crimson  stain,  which  be- 
came brown  with  exposure;  and  a  handlYil  thawed 
in  a  glass  tumbler  resembled  muddy  claret. 

Its  coloring  matter  was  evidently  soluble;  for,  on 
scraping  away  the  surface,  we  found  that  it  had  dyed 
the  snow  beneath  with  a  pure  and  beautiful  rose  color, 
which  penetrated,  v.'ith  a  gradually  softening  tint 
some  eight  inches  below  the  surface. 

At  4  P.M.  we  left  this  interesting  spot,  for  which 
some  pleasant  associations  had  suggested  to  me  the 
name  of  "  Bessie's  Cove,"  and  commenced  beating  to 
the  northward.  The  sea  was  crowded  with  entomos- 
traca  and  clios,  on  which  myriads  of  Auks  were  feed- 
ing. The  prospects  of  open  water  were  most  cheering. 
One  mile  from  the  shore,  we  got  soundings  in  rocky 
bottom,  at  twenty-three  fathoms,  and  then,  wishing  to 
"fill  nj)''  with  water  before  attempting  our  |\ass;ig'e  to 
the  Avest,  we  stood  close  in,  seeking  a  favoral  le  spot. 

About  eleven  o'clock  we  were  attracted  by  a  bight 
midway  between  Cajies  York  and  Dudley  Diggs.  Its 
foregroinid  was  of  rugged  syenitic  rocks,  and  ovei'  these 
we  could  distinctly  see  the  water  rushnig  down  in  a 
t'oamiiig  torrent.     Here  ^vas  a  watering-place. 

By  means  of  our  old  friends  the  wai'])s,  we  hauled  in 
so  clo^c  that  the  sides  of  our  vessels  touched  t  iie  rocks. 
\  feu  inelu's  oily  intervened  between  our  keel  and 
the  shining  |f-l)l)Ies,  We  could  jump  on  shore  as  from 
ii  wharf.  The  sun  was  so  low  at  this  midnight  hour 
lis  to  loathe  everything  in  m  atmosphere  of  Italian 
pink,  dcliciously  unlike  the  Virctic  regions.     The  recess 


':l  i 


I  ; 


rli 


I  1 


402 


AN     ARCTIC     GARDEN 


til  ^  .; 


was  In  blackest  shadow,  but  the  cliffs  wliicli  foniied 
the  walls  of  the  cove  rose  up  into  full  siuishine.  The 
Auks  croAvded  these  rocks  in  myriads.  So,  -with  gun 
and  sextant,  I  started  on  a  tramp. 

The  cove  itself  measured  but  six  hundred  yards  from 
bluff  to  bluff.  It  was  recessed  in  a  regular  ellipse,  or 
rather  horseshoe,  around  which  the  strongly-featured 
gneisses,  relieved,  as  usual,  with  the  outcroppings  of 
feldspar,  formed  lofty  mural  precipices.  I  estimated 
their  mean  elevation  at  twelve  hundred  feet.  At  their 
bases  a  mass  of  schistose  rubbish  had  accumuhited. 

I  have  described  this  recess  as  a  perfect  horseshoe : 
it  was  not  exactly  such,  for  at  its  northeast  end  a  rug- 
ged little  water-feeder,  formed  by  the  melting  snows, 
sent  down  a  stream  of  foam  which  buried  itself  under 
the  frozen  surface  of  a  lake.  Yet  to  the  eye  it  was  a 
nearly  absolute  theatre,  this  little  cove,  and  its  arena 
a  moss-covered  succession  of  terraces,  each  of  indescrib- 
able richness. 

Strange  as  it  seemed,  on  the  immediate  level  of  snow 
and  ice,  the  constant  infiltrations,  aided  by  solar  rever- 
beration, had  made  an  Arctic  garden-spot,  Tlie  sur- 
face of  the  moss,  owing,  probably,  to  the  extreme  altern- 
ations of  heat  and  cold,  was  divided  into  regular  hex- 
agons and  other  polyhedral  figures,  and  scattered  over 
these,  nestling  between  the  tufts,  and  forming  little 
groups  on  their  southern  faces,  was  a  quiet,  unobtru- 
siA'e  community  of  Alpine  flowering  plants.  The  weak- 
ness  of  individual  growth  allowed  no  ambitious  species 
to  overpower  its  neighbor,  so  that  inany  families  were 
crowded  together  in  a  ricli  flower-bed.  In  ii  little  space 
that  I  could  cover  with  my  pea-jacket,  the  veined  leaves 
of  the  I'yrola  wpic  peeping  out  among  chickweeds  jukI 
saxifrages,  the  sorrel  and  Uanunculus.    I  even  I'ouml  a 


\SS^' 


i.UUKJ.NU   t'tiil    WATER. 


HK.St^lK  .M    ruVK 


poor  gen 
thing  ar( 
portions. 
As  thi; 
that  hem 
began  to 
birches ; 
shoe,  an( 
of  debris, 
Slirubs 
only  type 
tilings  ha 
the  elem 
above  my 
alleys  ant 
inipressiv 
saw  the 
and  in  fri 
wild  hone 
sylvan  ia  ^ 
button-ho 
marabou  1 
Strange 
willows, 
a  trefoil  c 
althea,  ju 
lannta,  a 
like  an  un 
by  cliiW-1 
inhospital 
surface — 
moss  whi( 
1  had  s( 
evasions  < 


FLORULA. 


405 


poor  gentian,  stunted  and  reduced,  but  still,  like  every 
thing  around  it,  in  all  the  perfection  of  miniature  pro- 
portions. 

As  this  mossy  parterre  approached  the  rocky  walls 
that  hemmed  it  in,  tussocks  of  sedges  and  coarse  grass 
began  to  show  themselves,  mixed  with  heaths  and 
birches;  and  still  further  on,  at  the  margin  of  the  horse- 
shoe, and  fringing  its  union  with  the  stupendous  piles 
of  debris,  came  an  annulus  of  Arctic  shrubs  and  trees. 

Shrubs  and  trees  !  the  words  recall  a  smile,  for  they 
only  typed  those  natives  of  another  zone.  The  poor 
things  had  lost  their  uprightness,  and  learned  to  escape 
the  elements  by  trail iufj  along  the  rocks.     Few  rose 

•J  Do 

abov^e  my  shoes,  and  none  above  my  ankles  ;  yet  shady 
alleys  and  heaven-pointing  avenues  could  not  be  more 
impressive  examples  of  creative  adaptation.  Here  I 
saw  the  bleaberry  {Vacciniimi  uUginosum)  in  flower 
and  in  fruit — I  could  cover  it  with  a  wine-glass ;  the 
wild  honeysuckle  [Azalea  procumhens)  of  our  Penn- 
sylvania woods — I  could  stick  the  entire  plant  in  my 
button-hole ;  the  Andromeda  tetragona,  like  a  green 
marabou  feather. 

Strangest  among  these  transformations  came  the 
willows.  One,  the  Salix  hcrbacea,  hardly  larger  than 
a  trefoil  clover;  another,  the  S.  glauca,  like  a  young 
altliea,  just  bursting  from  its  seed.  A  third,  the  <S'. 
lanata,  a  triton  among  these  boreal  minnows,  looked 
like  an  unfortunate  garter-snake,  bound  hero  and  there 
by  claw-like  radicles,  which,  unable  to  penetrate  the 
inhospitable  soil,  had  spread  themselves  out  upon  the 
surlace — traps  for  the  broken  lichens  and  fostering 
inoss  which  formed  its  scanty  mould. 

1  had  several  opportunities,  while  taking  sextant  el- 
evations of  the  headlands,  to  measure  the  moss-beds 


M 


* 


■■^ff 


III 


406 


MOSS-BEDS. 


of  this  cove,  "both  by  sections  where  streams  from  the 
lake  had  left  denuded  faces,  and  by  piercing  through 
them  with  a  pointed  staff'.  These  mosses  formed  an 
investing  mould,  built  up  layer  upon  layer,  until  it  had 
attained  a  mean  depth  of  five  feet.  At  one  place,  near 
the  sea  line,  it  was  seven  feet ;  and  even  here  the  slow 
processes  of  Arctic  decomposition  had  not  entirely  de- 
stroyed the  delicate  radicles  and  stems.  The  fronds 
of  the  pioneering  lichens  were  still  recognizable,  en- 
tangled among  the  rest. 

Yet  these  little  layers  represented,  in  their  diminu- 
tive stratification,  the  deposits  of  vegetable  periods.  I 
counted  sixty-eight  in  the  greatest  section.*  Those 
chemical  processes  by  which  nature  converts  our  au- 
tumnal leaves  into  pabulum  for  future  growths  work 
slowly  here. 

My  companions  were  already  firing  away  at  the 
Auks,  whi(ih  covered  in  great  numbers  the  debris  of 
fallen  rock.  This  was  deposited  at  an  excessive  in- 
clination, sometimes  as  great  as  47° ;  its  talus,  some 
three  hundred  feet  in  height,  cutting  in  cone-like  proc- 
esses against  the  mural  faces  of  the  cliff. 

There  was  something  about  this  great  inclined  plane, 
with  its  enormous  fragments,  their  wild  distribution, 
and  steep  angle  of  deposit,  almost  fearfully  character- 
istic of  the  destructive  agencies  of  Arctic  congelation. 
I  had  never  seen,  not  even  at  the  bases  of  the  mural 
traps  of  India  and  South  America — or  better,  perhaps, 
than  either,  our  own  Connecticut — such  evidences  of 
active  degradation.     It  is  not  to  the  geologist  alone 

*  I  copy  the  number  of  these  layers  as  I  find  it  marked  in  my  journal ;  yci 
I  do  so,  not  without  some  fear  that  I  may  be  misled  by  the  cliirograjjliy  of  a 
very  hurried  note.  My  recollections  are  of  a  very  large  number,  yet  not  so 
iarge  as  that  which  my  respect  for  the  littera  scripia  induces  me  to  retain  in 
ihe  text. 


that  thes 

of  chano 

the  exisi 

friction  c 

on  with  s 

edges  am 

have  beei 

ley.     We 

ters."#     [ 

tatioii  of  J 

there,  and 

tion .' 

On  the  ; 
Auks  had  I 
though  far 
^edg'hngs  ^ 
and  the  irn 
(ionatiintly  i 
study  tile  ^ 
gnuiU  iit  t 
one  of  the 
;    ofinydosce 
TJie  aufi- 
"nich  Jess 
i"S"-pole  su 
fi'i'i  file  fra^ 
^^'jfii  a  reso 
P'"ir,  liovve 
^enoath,  an 
entire  suvi'm 
as  it  may  &, 


'to 


trivial. 


"ly  1 


"rated  velot 


AUKS'    NESTS. 


407 


that  these  tains  and  debris  are  impressive.  They  tell 
of  changes  which  have  begun  and  been  going  on  since 
the  existence  of  the  earth  in  its  present  state  by  the 
friction  of  time  against  its  surface;  and  they  carry  us 
on  vv^ith  solemn  force  to  the  period  when  the  dehiscent 
edges  and  mountain  ravines  of  this  same  earth  shall 
have  been  worn  down  into  rounded  hill  and  gentle  val- 
ley. Well  may  they  be  called  "geological  chronome- 
ters."* They  point  with  impressive  finger  to  the  ro- 
tation of  years.  The  dial-plate  and  the  index  are  both 
there,  and  human  wisdom  almost  deciphers  the  nota- 
tion ! 

On  the  steeper  flanks  of  these  rocky  cones  the  little 
Auks  had  built  their  nests.  The  season  of  incubation, 
though  far  advanced,  had  not  gone  by,  for  the  young 
fledglings  A-ere  looking  down  upon  me  in  thousands; 
and  the  mothers,  with  crops  full  of  provender,  were 
constantly  arriving  from  the  sea.  Urged  by  a  wish  to 
study  the  domestic  habits  of  these  little  Arctic  emi- 
grants at  their  homestead,  I  foolishly  clambered  up  to 
one  of  their  most  popular  colonies,  without  thinking 
of  my  descent. 

Tlie  angle  of  deposit  was  already  very  great,  not 
much  less  than  50° ;  and  as  I  moved  on,  with  a  walk- 
ing-pole substituted  for  my  gun,  I  was  not  surprised  to 
find  the  fragments  receding  under  my  feet,  and  rolling, 
with  a  resounding  crash,  to  the  plain  below.  Stop- 
ping, however,  to  regain  my  breath,  I  found  that  above, 
beneath,  around  me,  every  thing  was  in  motion.  The 
entire  surface  seemed  to  be  sliding  down.  Ridiculous 
as  it  may  seem  to  dwell  upon  a  matter  apparently  so 
trivial,  my  position  became  one  of  danger.  The  accel- 
erated velocity  of  the  masses  caused  them  to  leap  off 

'  •  jMantf  U's  "  Wonders  of  Geology." 


1 


I    I 


' 


m 


lit      : 


«  i- 


408 


TRAPPING    THE    AUKS. 


'  t! 


t4 


■t¥. 


ill  deflected  lines.  Several  uncomfortable  fragments 
had  already  passed  by  me,  some  even  over  my  head, 
and  my  walking-pole  was  jerked  from  my  hands  and 
buried  in  the  ruins.  Thus  helpless,  I  commenced  my 
own  half-involuntary  descent,  expecting  momentarily 
to  follow  my  pole,  when  my  eye  caught  a  projecting 
outcrop  of  feldspar,  against  which  the  strong  current 
split  into  two  minor  streams.  This,  with  some  hard 
jumps,  I  succeeded  in  reaching. 

As  I  sat  upon  the  temporary  security  of  this  little 
rock,  surrounded  by  falling  fragments,  and  awaiting 
their  slow  adjustment  to  a  new  equilibrium  before  I 
ventured  to  descend,  I  was  struck  with  the  Arctic  orig- 
inality  of  every  thing  around.  It  was  midnight,  and 
the  sun,  now  to  the  north,  was  hidden  by  the  rocks ; 
but  the  whole  atmosphere  was  pink  with  light.  Over 
head  and  around  me  whirled  innumerable  crowds  of 
Auks  and  Ivory  gulls,  screeching  with  execrable  clam- 
or, almost  in  contact  with  my  person. 

The  calm  which  had  given  us  these  two  days  of 
shore  rambles  left  us  suddenly  on  the  18th.  We  stood 
towards  Wolstenholmo  Sound,  and  bore  across  to  the 
west  in  more  open  water  than  we  had  seen  for  several 
weeks.  It  was  now  beyond  doubt  that  we  were  to 
winter  somewhere  among  the  scenes  of  Arctic  trial. 
We  were  past  the  barrier,  heading  direct  for  Lancas- 
ter  Sound,  with  the  motion  of  waves  once  more  under 
us,  and  a  breeze  aloft.  As  I  refer  to  my  journal,  1  see 
how  the  tone  of  feeling  rose  among  our  little  party. 
We  began  again  with  something  of  confidence  to  con- 
nect the  probable  results  with  the  objects  of  the  ex- 
pedition. We  had  lost  three  weeks  off  the  Devil's 
Tongue,  the  British  steamers  were  far  ahead  of  us  in 
point  of  time,  and  their  superior  ability  and  practice 


GOOD-BY    TO    BAFFIN. 


409 


would  still  keep  them  in  the  advance ;  and  we  were 
ignorant  of  their  course  and  intended  scheme  ol' search. 
We  had  dreamed  hefore  this,  and  pleasantly  enough, 
of  fellowship  with  them  in  our  efforts,  dividing  be- 
tween  us  the  hazards  of  the  way,  and  perhaps  in  the 
long  winter  holding  with  them  the  cheery  intercourse 
of  kindred  sympathies.  We  waked  now  to  the  prob- 
abilities of  passing  the  dark  days  alone.  Yet  fairly  on 
the  way,  an  energetic  commander,  a  united  ship's  com- 
pany, the  wind  freshening,  our  well-tried  little  ice- 
boat now  groping  her  way  like  a  blind  man  through 
fog  and  bergs,  and  now  dashing  on  as  if  reckless  of  ail 
but  success — it  was  impossible  to  repress  a  sentiment 
almost  akin  to  the  so-called  joyous  excitement  of  con- 
flict. 

We  were  bidding  good-by  to  "ye  goode  baye  of  old 
William  Baffin  ;"  and  as  we  looked  round  with  .a  fare- 
well remembrance  upon  the  still  water,  the  diminished 
icebergs,  and  the  constant  sun  which  had  served  us  so 
long  and  faithfully,  we  felt  that  the  bay  had  used  us 
kindly. 

Though  I  had  read  a  good  deal  in  the  voyagers' 
books  about  Baffin's  Bay,  I  had  strangely  and  entirely 
misconceived  the  prominent  features  of  its  summer 
scenery.  There  is  a  combination  of  warmth  and  cold 
in  the  tone  of  its  landscapes,  a  daring,  eccentric  vari- 
ety of  forms,  an  intense  clearness,  almost  energy  of  ex- 
pression, which  might  tax  Turner  and  Stanfield  to- 
gether to  reproduce  them  with  an  approach  to  truth. 
How  could  they  trace  the  features  of  the  iceberg,  melt- 
ing  into  shapes  so  boldly  marked,  yet  so  undefined  ;  or 
body  forth  its  cold  varieties  of  unshaded  white,  or  the 
azur(;  dare-obscure  of  the  ice-chasm!  There  are  the 
black  hills,  blocs  upon  ^oiling  snow;  the  ice-plain,  mar- 


!i 


■i::  ri 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


Y 


/. 


>°   C<'x 


i< 


Vi 


V, 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


lb  118 


—     6' 


12.0 


1.8 


14.  11.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEaSTER.N.Y    14580 

(716)  873-4503 


iV 


iV 


^^ 


•s^ 


:\ 


\ 


9) 


-f^ 


;\ 


«'- 


I.'*?' 


3 


i/x 


5 


410 


CONTINUOUS    DAYLIGHT. 


gined  with  glaciers,  and  jutting  out  in  capos  from  the 
cliffed  shore :  there  is  the  still  blue  water.  Or,  il'  yon 
want  action  instead  of  repose,  here  is  the  crashing  floe, 
the  grinding  hummock,  and  the  monumental  berg  lis- 
ing  above  both !  itself,  though  perishable,  a  seeming 
pormanency  compared  with  the  ephemeral  ruins  that 
baat  against  its  sides. 

All  this  is  attempered  by  the  warm  glazing  of  a  tint- 
ed atmosphere.  The  sky  of  Baffin's  Bay,  though  but 
eight  hundred  miles  from  the  Polar  limit  of  all  north- 
eianess,  is  as  warm  as  the  Bay  of  Naples  after  a  June 
rain.  What  artist,  then,  could  give  this  mysterious 
union  of  warm  atmosphere  and  cold  landscape  ? 

The  perpetual  daylight  had  continued  up  to  this 
moment  with  unabated  glare.  The  sun  had  reached 
his  north  meridian  altitude  some  days  befort^,  but  the 
eve  Was  liardly  aware  of  change.  Midnight  had  a 
softened  character,  like  the  low  summer's  sun  at  home, 
but  there  was  no  twilight. 

At  first  the  novelty  of  this  great  unvarying  day 
made  it  pleasing.  It  was  curious  to  see  the  "mid- 
night Arctic  sun  set  into  sunrise,"  and  pleasant  t<j  find 
that,  whether  you  ate  or  slept,  or  idled  or  toiled,  the 
•mme  d;iylight  was  alnays  there.  No  irksome  night 
forced  u].')n  you  its  s}  stem  of  comj)ulsory  altcrn.iHons. 
I  could  (line  nt  midnight,  sup  at  breakfast-time,  and 
go  to  bed  at  noonday ;  and  but  for  an  apparatus  of 
coils  and  cogs,  called  a  watch,  would  have  been  uo 
wiser  and  no  worse. 

My  feeling  was  at  first  an  extravagant  sense  of  un- 
defined relief,  of  some  vague  resti'aint  removed.  I 
seemed  to  have  thrown  off  the  slavery  of  hours.  In 
fact,  I  coidd  hardly  realize  its  entirety.  The?  astral 
lamps,  standing,  dust-covered,  on  our  lockers — 1  ani 


quoting 

things  ol 

My  lot 

sugar- nia 

I  had  bee 

portion  ol 

riods  of  J) 

had  mouri 

1  miss  the 

have  been 

of  emotion 

fess  to,  1)01 

ternation  o 

great  cond 

lo  those  M 

how  kindly 

urged  by  tl 

task,  now  II 

six  months 

men,  the  ci 

screen  wliic 

nant  tlie  de 

rest! 

"A//nrifst 

Aneroid  ilij 

I  was  cjillc 

couple  of  V, 

Were  shorte 

twelve,  the 

"P  aloiifr  sid 

only  know  v 

itudes  of  Ai 

Captain  I'cii 

as  ourselves. 


r 


CONTINUOUS    DAYLIGHT. 


411 


quoting  the  words  of  my  journal — puzzled  me,  as 
things  obsolete  and  fanciful. 

My  lot  had  been  cast  in  the  zone  of  liriodendrons  and 
sugar-maples,  in  the  nearly  midway  latitude  of  40°. 
I  had  boon  habituated  to  day  and  night;  and  every 
portion  of  these  two  great  divisions  had  for  tne  its  pe- 
riods of  peculiar  association.  Even  in  the  tropics,  I 
had  inounied  the  lost  twilight.  How  much  more  did 
1  miss  the  soothing  darkness,  of  which  twilight  should 
have  been  the  precursor!  I  began  to  feel,  with  more 
of  emotion  than  a  man  writing  for  others  likes  to  con- 
fess to,  how  admirable,  as  a  systematic  law,  is  the  al- 
ternation of  day  and  night — words  that  type  the  two 
great  conditions  of  living  nature,  action  and  repose. 
To  those  who  with  daily  labor  earn  the  daily  bread, 
how  kindly  the  season  of  sleep!  To  the  drone  who, 
urged  by  the  waning  daylight,  hastens  the  deferred 
task,  now  fortunate  that  his  procrastination  has  not  a 
six  months'  morrow !  To  the  brain- workers  amciig 
men,  the  enthusiasts,  who  bear  irksomely  the  dark 
screen  which  falls  upon  their  day-dreams,  how  benig- 
nant the  dear  night  blessing,  which  enforces  reluctant 
rest! 

"Atffriist  19.  The  wind  continuoil  freshening,  the 
Aneroid  ilillingtwo  tenths  in  the  night.  About  eight 
I  was  called  by  our  master,  with  the  Jiews  that  a 
couple  of  vessels  were  folhnving  in  our  wake.  We 
were  shortening  sail  for  our  consort;  and  by  half  past 
twelve,  llie  larger  stranger,  the  Lady  Franklin,  came 
up  along  side  of  us.  A  cordial  greeting,  snch  as  those 
only  know  who  have  been  pelted  for  weeks  in  the  sol- 
itudes of  Arctic  ice — and  we  learned  that  this  was 
Captain  PcMiny's  squa<lron,  bound  on  the  same  pursuit 
as  ourselves.    A  hurried  interchange  of  news  followed. 


412  CAPTAIN     penny's     SQUADUON. 

The  ice  in  Molville  Bay  had  hothered  botli  parties 
aliko ;  (loiTnnodoro  Austin,  with  his  steanior  tenders, 
was  ilircc  days  ago  at  Carey's  Islands,  a  {rronp  near- 
ly as  lii;,'h  as  77"  north  latitude;  the  North  Star,  the 
Tnissinjj  provision  transport  of  last  sunmicr,  was  safe 
somewhere  in  Lancaster  Sound,  probably  at  Leopold 
Island.     For  the  rest,  God  speed  ! 

"As  she  slowly  forged  ahead,  there  came  over  the 
rough  sea  that  good  old  EngHsh  hurra,  which  we  in. 
herit  on  our  side  the  water.  '  Three  cheers,  iiearty, 
with  a  will!'  indicating  us  much  of  brotherhood  as 
sympathy.  *  Stand  aloft,  boys !'  and  we  gave  back  the 
greeting.  One  cheer  more  of  acknowledgment  on  each 
side,  and  the  sister  flags  separated,  each  o'l  its  errand 
of  mercy. 

*'  The  sea  is  short  and  excessive.  Every  thing  on 
deck,  even  anchors  and  quarter- boats,  have  '  fetched 
away,'  and  the  little  cabin  is  half  afloat.  The  Rescue 
is  staggering  under  heavy  sail  astern  of  us.  AV^e  are 
making  six  or  seven  knois  an  hour.  Murdaugh  is 
ahead,  looking  out  for  ice  and  rocks;  De  Haven  con- 
ning the  ship. 

"All  at  once  a  high  mountain  shore  rises  before  us, 
and  a  couple  of  isolated  rocks  show  themselves,  not 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ahead,  white  with  break- 
ers.    Both  vessels  are  laid  to." 

The  storm  reminded  me  of  a  Mexican  "  norther." 
It  was  not  till  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  that  we 
were  able  to  resume  our  track,  under  a  douhlcreefed 
top-sail,  stay-sail,  and  spencer.  We  were,  of  course, 
without  observation  still,  and  could  only  reckon  that 
we  had  passed  the  Cunningham  Mountains  and  Cape 
Warrender. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  21st,  on- 


SIR    JOHN    KU8S. 


413 


other  sail  was  reported  ahead,  a  top-sail  schooner,  tow- 
ing after  her  what  appeared  to  he  a  launch,  decked 
over. 

"  When  I  reached  the  deck,  we  were  nearly  up  to 
her,  for  we  had  shaken  out  our  reefs,  and  m  jre  driving 
before  the  wind,  shipping  seas  at  every  roll.  The  lit- 
tle schooner  was  under  a  single  close-reefed  top-sail,  and 
seemed  fluttering  over  the  waves  like  a  crippled  bird. 
Presently  an  old  fellow,  with  a  cloak  tossed  over  his 
night  gear,  appeared  in  the  lee  gangway,  and  saluted 
with  a  voice  that  rose  above  the  winds. 

"It  was  the  Felix,  commanded  by  that  practical 
Arctic  veteran,  Sir  John  Ross.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
heartiness  with  which  the  hailing  olficer  sang  out,  in 
the  midst  of  our  dialogue,  *  You  and  1  are  ahead  of  them 
all.'  It  was  so  indeed.  Austin,  with  two  vessels,  was 
at  Pond's  Bay ;  Penny  was  somewhere  in  the  gale ; 
ami  others  of  Austin's  squadron  were  exploring  the 
north  side  of  the  Sound.  The  Felix  and  the  Advance 
were  on  the  lead. 

"  Before  we  separated,  Sir  John  Ross  came  on  deck, 
and  stood  at  the  side  of  his  officer,  lie  was  a  square- 
built  num,  apparently  very  little  stricken  in  years,  and 
well  al>ie  to  bear  his  part  in  the  toils  and  hazards  of 
life.  He  has  been  wounded  in  four  several  engage- 
ments— twice  desperately — and  is  scarred  from  head 
to  foot.  lie  has  conducted  two  Polar  expeditions  al- 
ready, and  performed  in  one  of  them  the  unparalleled 
feat  of  wintering  four  years  in  Arctic  snows.  And 
here  he  is  again,  in  a  flimsy  cockle-shell,  after  contrib- 
uting his  purse  and  his  influence,  embarked  himself  in 
the  crusade  of  search  for  a  lost  comrade.  We  met  him 
off  Admiralty  Inlet,  just  about  the  spot  at  which  he 
was  picked  up  seventeen  years  before." 


414 


THE    PRINCE    ALBERT. 


:     1 


Soon  after  midnight,  the  land  became  visible  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Sound.  We  had  passed  Cape  Charles 
Yorke  and  Cape  Crawfurd,  and  were  fanning  along 
sluggishly  with  all  the  sail  we  could  crowd  for  Port 
Leopold. 

It  was  the  next  day,  however,  before  we  c  ime  in 
sight  of  the  island,  and  it  was  nearly  spent  when  we 
found  ourselves  slowly  approaching  Whaler  Point,  the 
seat  of  the  harbor.  Our  way  had  been  remarkably 
clear  of  ice  for  some  days,  and  we  were  vexed  to  find, 
therefore,  that  a  firm  and  rugged  barrier  extended  along 
the  western  shore  of  the  inlet,  and  apparently  across 
the  entrance  we  were  seeking. 

It  was  a  great  relief  to  us  to  see,  at  half  past  six  in 
the  evening,  a  top-sail  schooner  working  toward  us 
through  the  ice.  She  boarded  us  at  ten,  and  proved 
to  be  Lady  Franklin's  own  search- vessel,  the  Prince 
Albert. 

This  was  a  very  pleasant  meeting.  Captain  For- 
syth, who  commanded  the  Albert,  and  Mr.  Snow,  who 
acted  as  a  sort  of  adjutant  under  him,  were  very  agree- 
able gentlemen.  They  spent  some  hours  with  us, 
which  Mr.  vSnow  has  remembered  kindly  in  the  journal 
he  has  published  since  his  return  to  England.  Their 
little  vessel  was  mich  less  perfectly  fitted  than  ours  to 
encounter  the  perils  of  the  ice ;  but  in  one  respect  at 
least  their  expedition  resembled  our  own.  Tiiey  had 
to  rough  it :  to  use  a  Western  phrase,  they  had  no  fan- 
cy fixings — nothing  but  what  a  hasty  outfit  and  a  lim- 
ited purse  could  supply.  They  were  now  bound  for 
Cape  llennell,  after  which  they  proposed  making  a 
sledge  excursion  over  the  lower  Boothian  and  Cock- 
burne  lands. 

The  North  Star,  they  told  us,  had  been  -caught  by 


1    '  ! 


CAPE    RILEY. 


413 


the  ice  last  season  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  own  first 
imprisonment,  off  the  Devil's  Thumb.  After  a  peril- 
ous drift,  she  had  succeeded  in  entering  Wolstenholme 
Sound,  whence,  after  a  tedious  winter,  she  had  only  re- 
cently arrived  at  Port  Bowen. 

They  followed  in  our  wake  the  next  day  as  we  push- 
ed through  many  streams  of  ice  across  the  strait.  We 
sighted  the  shore  about  five  miles  to  the  west  of  Cape 
Hurd  very  closely;  a  miserable  wilderness,  rising  in 
terraces  of  broken-down  limestone,  arranged  between 
the  hills  like  a  vast  tlu  atre. 

On  the  25th,  still  beating  through  the  ice  off  Ilad- 
stock  Bay,  we  discovered  on  Cape  Riley  two  cairns, 
one  of  them,  the  riiost  conspicuous,  with  a  flag-staff  and 
ball.  A  couple  of  hours  after,  we  were  near  enough 
to  land.  The  cape  itself  is  a  low  projecting  tongue  of 
limestone,  but  at  a  short  distance  behind  it  the  cliff 
rises  to  the  height  of  some  eight  hundred  feet.  We 
found  a  tin  canister  within  the  larger  cairn,  contain- 
ing the  information  that  Captain  Ommanney  had  been 
there  two  days  before  us,  with  the  Assistance  and  In- 
trepid, belonging  to  Captain  Austin's  squadron,  and 
had  discovered  traces  of  an  encampment,  and  other 
indications  "that  some  party  belonging  to  her  Britan- 
nic majesty's  service  had  been  dettiined  at  this  spot." 
Similar  traces,  it  was  added,  had  been  found  also  on 
Beechy  Island,  a  projection  on  the  channel  side  some 
ten  miles  from  Cape  Riley. 

Our  consort,  the  Rescue,  as  we  afterward  learned, 
had  shared  in  this  discovery,  though  the  British  com- 
mander's inscription  in  the  cairn,  as  well  as  his  ofli- 
cial  reports,  might  lead  perhaps  to  a  different  conclu- 
sion. Captain  Griflin,  in  fact,  landed  with  Captain 
Ommanney,  and  the  traces  were  registered  while  the 
two  officers  were  in  company. 


1 1 


F 


1      ! 


41C 


FRANKLIN    S    ENCAMPMENT. 


I  inspected  these  different  traces  very  carefully,  and 
noted  what  I  observed  at  the  moment.  The  appear- 
ances  which  connect  them  with  the  story  of  Sir  John 
Franklin  have  been  described  by  others;  but  there 
may  still  be  interest  in  a  description  of  them  made 
while  they  were  under  my  eye.  I  transcribe  it  word 
for  word  from  my  journal. 

"  On  a  tongue  of  fossiliferous  limestone,  fronting  to- 
ward  the  west  on  a  little  indentation  of  the  water,  and 
shielded  from  the  north  by  the  precipitous  cliffs,  are 
five  distinct  remnants  of  habitation. 

"  Nearest  the  cliffs,  four  circular  mounds  or  henp- 
ings-up  of  the  crumbled  limestone,  aided  by  larger 
stones  placed  at  the  outer  edge,  as  if  to  protect  tl.e 
leash  of  a  tent.  Two  larger  stones,  with  an  interval 
of  two  feet,  fronting  the  west,  mark  the  places  of  en- 
trance. 

"  Several  large  square  stones,  so  arranged  as  to  serve 
probably  for  a  fire-place.  These  have  been  tumbled 
over  by  parties  before  us. 

**  More  distant  from  the  cliffs,  yet  in  line  with  the 
four  already  described,  is  a  larger  inclosure ;  the  door 
facing  south,  and  looking  toward  the  strait :  this  so- 
called  door  is  simply  an  entrance  made  of  large  stones 
placed  one  above  the  other.  The  inclosure  itself  tri- 
angular; its  northern  side  about  eighteen  inches  high, 
built  up  of  flat  stones.  Some  bird  bones  and  one  rib 
of  a  seal  were  found  exactly  in  the  centre  of  this  tri- 
angle, as  if  a  party  had  sat  round  it  eating ;  and  the 
top  of  a  preserved  meat  case,  much  rusted,  was  found 
in  the  same  phice.  I  picked  up  a  piece  of  canvas  or 
duck  on  the  cliff  side,  well  worn  by  the  weather :  the 
sailors  recognized  it  at  once  as  the  gore  of  a  pair  of 
trowsers. 


"Afift: 
may  imvc 
perfect  th) 

"On  th 
the  triant' 


FRANKLIN   S    ENCAMPMENT. 


417 


"  A  fifth  circle  is  discernible  nearer  the  cliffs,  which 
may  have  belonged  to  the  same  party.  It  was  less 
perfect  than  the  others,  and  seemed  of  an  older  date. 

"  On  the  beach,  some  twenty  or  thirty  yards  from 
the  triangular  inclosure,  were  several  pieces  of  pine 
wood  ahoiit  four  inches  long,  painted  green,  and  white, 
and  black,  and,  in  one  instance,  puttied ;  evidently 
parts  of  a  boat,  and  apparently  collected  as  kindling 
wood," 

The  indications  were  meagre,  but  the  conclusion 
they  led  to  was  irresistible.  They  could  not  be  the 
work  of  Esquinmux :  the  whole  character  of  them  con- 
tradicted it:  and  the  only  European  who  could  have 
visited  Cape  Kiley  was  Parry,  twenty-eight  years  be- 
fore ;  and  we  knew  from  his  journal  that  he  had  not 
encamped  here.  Then,  again,  Omnumney's  discovery 
of  like  vestiges  on  Beechy  Island,  just  on  the  track  of 
a  party  moving  in  either  direction  between  it  and  the 
channel :  all  these  speak  of  a  land  party  from  Frank- 
Un's  squadron. 

Our  commander  resolved  to  press  onward  along  the 
eastern  shore  ofWellington  Channel.  W^e  were  un- 
der weigh  in  the  early  morning  of  tlie  2Glh,  and  work- 
ing along  with  our  consort  toward  Beeciiy — I  drop 
the  "Island,"  for  it  is  more  strictly  a  peninsula  or  a 
promontory  (jf  limestone,  as  high  and  abrupt  as  that 
at  Capo  HiUiy,  connected  with  what  we  call  the  main 
by  a  low  isthmus.  Still  further  on  we  passed  Cape 
Spencer ;  then  a  fine  bluff  point,  called  by  Parry  Point 
Innes ;  and  further  on  again,  the  treiul  being  to  the 
east  of  north,  we  saw  the  low  tongue,  Cape  Bowden. 
Parry  merely  sighted  these  points  from  a  distance,  so 
that  the  shore  line  has  never  been  traced.  I  sketch- 
ed it  myself  with  some  care;  but  the  running  survey 


i; 


■*■]■■ 


418 


FRANKLIN   S    ENCAMPMENT. 


of  this  celebrated  explorer  had  left  nothing  to  alter. 
To  the  north  of  Cape  Innes,  though  the  coast  retains 
the  same  geognostical  character,  the  bluff  pronioiito- 
ties  subside  into  low  hills,  between  which  the  beach, 
composed  of  coarse  silicious  limestone,  sweeps  in  long 
curvilinear  terraces.  Measuring  some  of  those  rudely 
afterward,  I  found  that  the  elevation  of  the  highest 
plateau  did  not  exceed  forty  feet. 

Our  way  northward  was  along  an  ice  channel  close 
under  the  eastern  shore,  and  bounded  on  the  other  side 
by  the  ice-pack,  at  a  distance  varying  from  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  to  a  mile  and  three  quarters.  Off  Cape  Spen- 
cer the  way  soomed  more  open,  widening  perhaps  to 
two  miles,  and  showing  something  like  continued  free 
water  to  the  north  and  west.  Here  we  met  Captain 
Penny,  with  the  Lady  Franklin  and  Sophia,  lie  told 
us  that  the  channel  was  completely  shut  in  ahead  by 
a  compact  ice  biirrier,  which  connected  itself  with  that 
to  the  west,  describing  a  horseshoe  bend.  lie  thought 
a  southwester  wns  coming  on,  and  counseled  us  to  pre- 
pare for  the  chances  of  an  impactment.  The  go-ahead 
determination  which  characterized  our  commander 
made  us  test  the  correctness  of  his  advice.  We  push- 
ed on,  tracked  the  horseshoe  circuit  of  the  ice  without 
finding  an  outlet,  and  were  glad  to  labor  back  again 
almost  in  the  teeth  of  a  gale. 

Captain  Penny  had  occupied  the  time  more  profita- 
bly. In  company  with  Dr.  Goodsir,  an  enthusiastic 
explorer  and  highly  educated  gentleman,  whose  broth- 
er wns  an  astistant  surgeon  on  board  the  missing  ves- 
sels, he  had  been  examining  the  shore.  On  the  ridge 
of  limestone,  between  Cape  Spencer  and  Point  limes, 
they  had  come  across  additional  proofs  that  Sir  John's 
party  had  been  here — very  important  these  proofs  as 


FRANKLIN   S    ENCAMPMENT. 


419 


extending  the  line  along  the  shore  over  which  the  par- 
ty  must  have  moved  from  Cape  Riley. 

Among  the  articles  they  had  found  were  tin  canis- 
ters, witii  tlie  London  maker's  lahel ;  scraps  ol'  news- 
paper, bearing  the  date  1844  ;  a  paper  fragment,  with 
the  words  "until  called"  on  it,  seemingly  part  of  a 
watch  order ;  and  two  other  fragments,  each  with  the 
name  of  one  of  Franklin's  officers  written  on  it  in  pen- 
cil. 

On  the  27th,  the  chances  of  this  narrow  and  capri- 
cious  navigation  had  gathered  five  of  the  searching 
vessels,  under  three  different  commands,  within  the 
same  quarter  of  a  mile — Sir  John  Ross',  Penny's,  and 
our  own.  Both  Ross  and  Penny  had  made  th(?  effort 
to  push  through  the  sound  to  the  west,  but  found  a 
great  belt  of  ice,  reaching  in  an  almost  regular  cres- 
cent from  Leopold's  Island  across  to  the  northern  shore, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  entrance  of  the  channel. 
Captain  Ommanney,  with  the  Intrepid  and  Assistance, 
had  been  less  fortunate.  He  had  att(^mpted  to  break 
his  way  through  the  barrier,  but  it  had  closed  on  him, 
and  he  was  now  fast,  within  fifteen  miles  of  us,  to  the 
west. 

After  breakfast,  our  commander  and  myself  took  a 
boat  to  visit  the  traces  discovered  yesterday  by  Cap- 
tain Penny.  Taking  the  Lady  Franklin  in  our  way, 
we  met  Sir  John  Ross  and  Commander  Phillips,  and 
a  conference  naturally  took  place  upon  the  best  plans 
for  concerted  operations.  I  was  very  much  struck 
with  the  gallant  disinterestedness  of  spirit  which  was 
shown  by  all  the  officers  in  this  discussion.  Penny, 
an  energetic,  practical  fellow,  sketched  out  at  once  a 
plan  of  action  for  each  vessel  of  the  party.  He  hiiti- 
self  would  take  the  western  search ;  Ross  should  run 

25 


S        I  (  .  1* 


420 


THE    GRAVES. 


over  to  Prince  Regent's  Sound,  communicate  the  newH 
to  the  Prince  Albert,  and  so  relieve  that  little  vessel 
from  the  now  unnecessary  perils  of  her  intended  expe- 
dition ;  and  we  were  to  press  through  the  first  open- 
ings  in  the  ice  by  Wellington  Channel,  to  the  north 
and  east. 

It  was  wisely  determined  by  brave  old  Sir  John 
that  he  would  leave  the  Mary,  his  tender  of  twelve 
tons,  at  a  little  itilet  near  the  point,  to  serve  as  a  fall. 
back  in  case  we  should  lose  our  vesfjls  or  become 
sealed  up  in  permanent  ice,  and  De  Haven  and  Penny 
engaged  their  respective  shares  of  her  outfit,  in  the 
ibhape  of  some  barrels  of  beef  and  flour.  Sir  John 
Ross,  I  think,  had  just  lefl  us  to  go  on  board  his  little 
craft,  and  I  was  still  talking  over  our  projects  with 
Captain  Penny,  when  a  messenger  was  reported,  uiak- 
ing  all  speed  to  us  over  the  ice. 

The  news  he  brought  was  thrilling.  "  Graves,  Cap- 
tain Penny !  graves !  Franklin's  winter  quarters ! ' 
"We  were  instantly  in  motion.  Captain  De  Haven, 
Captain  Penny,  Commander  Phillips,  and  myself,  johi- 
ed  by  a  party  from  the  Rescue,  hurried  on  over  the  ice, 
"and,  scrambling  along  the  loose  and  rugged  slope  that 
extends  from  Beechy  to  the  shore,  came,  after  a  weary 
walk,  to  the  crest  of  the  isthmus.  Here,  amid  the  ster^ 
lie  uniformity  of  snow  and  slate,  were  the  head-boards 
of  three  graves,  made  after  the  old  orthodox  fashion  of 
gravestones  at  home.  The  mounds  which  adjoined 
them  were  arranged  with  some  pretensions  to  symme- 
try, coped  and  defended  with  limestone  slabs.  They 
occupied  a  line  facing  toward  Cape  Riley,  which  was 
distinctly  visible  across  a  little  cove  at  the  distance  of 
Bome  four  hundred  yards. 

The  first,  or  that  most  to  the  southward,  is  nearest  to 


the  fror 
t'on,  cut 


Th 


e  sec 


The  third 
so  welJ  finij 
of  stone- WO] 
?rave.|ike.  ii 


in  h 


'ippier  h 


"Departed 

184G!"     Fra 

^hen  he  occi 

Two  large  [ 

«^ne  a  iittiel 

tlieni  was  a 


THE    ORATES. 


421 


the  front  in  the  nocompanying  sketch.     Its  inscrip- 
tion, cut  in  by  a  chisel,  ran  thus : 

"Sacred 
to  the  , 

rrn"  niorjr 
of 
W.  BiAiNc,  R.  M., 
H.  M.  S.  Erebus, 
lied  April  3  1, 1846,  » 

aged  33  years. 
Chooao  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve.' 

Joshua,  ch.  zxiv.,  16." 

The  second  was : 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of 

John  Hartnell,  A.  B.  of  H.  M.  S. 

Erebus, 

aged  23  years. 

'Thus  saith  the  Lord,  consider  your  ways.' 

Haggai,  i ,  7." 

The  third  and  hist  of  these  memorials  was  not  quite 
80  well  finished  as  the  others.  The  mound  was  not 
of  stone- work,  but  its  general  appearance  was  more 
grave-like,  more  like  the  sleeping-place  of  Christians 
in  happier  lands.     It  was  inscribed  : 

"  Sacred 

to 

the  memory 

of 

John  Torbinotow, 

who  departed  this  life 

January  1st,  A.D.  1840, 

on  board  of 

H.  M.  ship  Terror, 

aged  20  years." 

•'Departed  this  life  on  board  the  Terror,  1st  January, 
1846!"  Franklin's  ships,  then,  had  not  been  wrecked 
when  he  occupied  the  encampment  at  Beechy ! 

Two  large  stones  were  imbedded  in  the  friable  lime- 
stone a  little  to  the  left  of  these  sad  records,  and  near 
them  was  a  piece  of  wood,  more  than  a  foot  in  diam- 


¥■ 


i  I 


II 


U 


\ 


422 


MOUNDS. 


eter,  and  two  feet  eifj^ht  inches  liigli,  wliicli  had  evi- 
dently served  for  an  anvil-block :  the  marks  were  un- 
mistakable. Near  it  again,  but  still  more  to  the  east, 
and  thierefore  nearer  the  beach,  was  a  large  blackened 
space,  covered  with  coal  cinders,  iron  nails,  spikes, 
hinges,  rings,  clearly  the  remains  of  the  armorer's  forge. 
Still  nearer  the  beach,  but  more  to  the  south,  was  the 
carpenter's  shop,  its  marks  equally  distinctive. 

Leaving  "the  graves,"  and  walking  toward  Wei- 
lington  Straits,  about  four  hundred  yards,  or  perhaps 
less,  we  came  to  a  mound,  or  rather  a  series  of  mounds, 
which,  considering  the  Arctic  character  of  the  surface 
at  this  spot,  must  have  been  a  work  of  labor.  It  in- 
closed one  nearly  elliptical  area,  and  one  other,  which, 
though  separated  from  the  first  by  a  lesser  mound, 
appeared  to  be  connected  with  it.  The  spaces  thus 
inclosed  abounded  in  fragmentary  remains.  Among 
them  I  saw  a  stocking  without  a  foot,  sewed  up  at  its 
edge,  and  a  mitten  not  so  much  the  worse  for  use  as 
to  have  been  without  value  to  its  owner.  Siiavings 
of  wood  were  strewed  freely  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  mound,  as  if  they  had  been  collected  there  by  the 
continued  labor  of  artificers,  and  not  far  from  these,  a 
few  hundred  yards  lower  down,  was  tlio  remnant  of  a 
garden.  Weighing  all  the  signs  carefully,  I  had  no 
doubt  that  this  was  some  central  shore  establishment, 
connected  with  the  squadron,  and  that  the  lesser  area 
was  used  as  an  observatory,  for  it  had  largo  stones 
fixed  as  if  to  support  instruments,  and  the  scantling 
props  still  stuck  in  the  frozen  soil. 

Travelling  on  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further,  and 
in  the  same  direction,  we  came  upon  a  deposit  of  more 
than  six  hundred  preserved-meat  cans,  arninged  in 
regular  order.    They  had  been  emptied,  and  were  now 


tRACES. 


423 


filled  with  limestone  pebbles,  perhaps  to  serve  as  con- 
venient ballast  on  boating  expeditions. 

These  were  among  the  more  obvious  vestiges  of  Sir 
John  Franklin's  party.  The  minor  indications  about 
the  ground  were  innumerable :  fragments  of  canvas, 
rope,  cordage,  sail-cloth,  tarpaulins ;  of  casks,  iron-work, 
wood,  rough  and  carved ;  of  clothing,  such  as  a  blank- 
et lined  by  long  stitches  with  common  cotton  stuff, 
and  made  into  a  sort  ol  rude  coat ;  paper  in  scraps, 
white,  waste,  and  journal ;  a  small  key ;  a  few  odds 
and  ends  of  brass- work,  such  as  might  be  part  of  the 
furniture  of  a  locker ;  in  a  word,  the  numberless  re- 
liquiaj  of  a  winter  resting-place.  One  of  the  papers, 
which  I  have  preserved,  has  on  it  the  notation  of  an 
astronomical  sight,  worked  out  to  Greenwich  time. 

With  all  this,  not  a  written  memorandum,  or  point- 
ing cross,  or  even  the  vaguest  intimation  of  the  condi- 
tion or  intentions  of  the  party.  The  traces  found  at 
Cape  Riley  and  Beechy  were  still  more  baffling.  The 
cairn  was  mounted  on  a  high  and  conspicuous  portion 
of  the  shore,  and  evidently  intended  to  attract  observa- 
tion ;  but,  though  several  parties  examined  it,  digging 
round  it  in  every  direction,  not  a  single  particle  of  in- 
formation could  be  gieaned.  This  is  remarkable;  and 
for  so  able  and  practiced  an  Arctic  commander  as  Sir 
John  Franklin,  an  incomprehensible  omission. 

In  a  narrow  interval  between  the  hills  which  come 
down  toward  Beechy  Island,  the  searching  parties  of 
the  Rescue  and  Mr.Murdaugh  of  our  own  vessel  found 
the  tracks  of  a  sledge  clearly  defined,  and  unmistaka- 
ble both  as  to  character  and  direction.  They  pointed 
to  the  eastern  shores  of  Wellington  Sound,  in  tlie  same 
general  course  with  the  traces  discovered  by  Penny 
between  Cape  Spencer  and  Point  Innes. 


424 


CONCLUSIONS. 


I 

i! 


Similar  traces  were  seen  toward  Caswell's  Tower 
and  Cape  Riley,  which  gave  additional  proofs  of  sys- 
tematic  journeyings.  They  could  be  traced  through 
the  coiuiniuuted  limestone  shingle  in  the  direction  of 
Cape  Spencer ;  and  at  intervals  further  on  were  scraps 
of  paper,  lucifer  matches,  and  even  the  cinders  of  the 
temporary  fire.  The  sledge  parties  must  have  been 
regularly  organised,  for  their  course  had  evidently  been 
the  subject  of  a  previous  reconnqissance.  I  observed 
their  runner  tracks  not  only  in  the  limestone  crust, 
but  upon  some  snow  slopes  further  to  the  north.  It 
was  startling  to  see  the  evidences  of  a  travel  nearly 
six  years  old,  preserved  in  intaglio  on  a  material  so 
perishable.  • 

The  snows  of  the  Arctic  regions,  by  alternations  of 
congelation  and  thaw,  acquire  sometimes  an  ice-like 
durability;  but  these  traces  had  been  covered  by  the 
after-snows  of  five  winters.  They  pointed,  like  the 
Sastrugi,  or  snow- waves  of  tho  Siberians,  to  the  march- 
es of  the  lost  company. 

Mr.  Griffin,  who  performed  a  journey  of  research 
along  this  coast  toward  the  north,  found  at  intervals, 
almost  to  Cape  Bowden,  traces  of  a  passing  party.  A 
corked  bottle,  quite  empty,  was  among  these,  llcach- 
ing  a  point  beyond  Cape  Bowden,  he  discovered  the 
indentation  or  bay  which  now  bears  his  name,  and  on 
whose  opposite  shores  the  coast  was  again  seen. 

It  is  clear  to  my  own  mind  that  a  systematic  recon- 
noissance  was  undertaken  by  Franklin  of  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Wellington,  and  that  it  had  for  its  object 
an  exploration  in  that  direction  as  soon  as  the  ice 
would  permit. 

There  were  some  features  about  this  deserted  home* 
Biead  inexpressibly  touching.    The  frozen  trough  of  an 


old  Wat 

for  the  ( 

Jack  m 

though 

as  the  H 

t^e  garde 

describes 

that  Wen 

plies  a  pi 

makes  it 

ioiind  a  pi 

dry,  \^hh 

thorn  froii 

measure  t\ 

could  be  be 

Arctic  trav 

^or  them,  l 

hurry. 

Tile  facU 
'^een  so  ab 
cused  twin 
it  Was  iinpc 
stood  upon  [ 
*^"t'  such  as) 
«J^J'fe.ss  it  li[ 
hi  the  thii 
^'O'l^ort,  the 
promontory 
'■('""■•lijied  oiij 
"^'""^flfig.^^hl 
also  tliere. 
these  crews 
t«r  In  the  Yi\ 
'^t  aji  encain[ 


CONCLUSIONS. 


425 


old  water  channel  had  served  as  the  wash-house  stream 
for  the  crews  of  the  lost  squadron.  The  tuhs,  such  as 
Jack  makes  by  sawing  in  half  the  beef  barrels,  al- 
though no  longer  fed  by  the  melted  snows,  remained 
as  the  washers  had  left  them  five  years  ago.  The  lit- 
tle garden,  too:  I  did  not  see  it;  but  Lieutenant  Osborn 
describes  it  as  still  showing  the  mosses  and  anemones 
that  werQ  transplanted  by  its  framers.  A  garden  im- 
plies a  purpose  either  to  remain  or  to  return :  he  who 
makes  it  is  looking  to  the  future.  The  same  officer 
found  a  pair  of  Cashmere  gloves,  carefully  "laid  out  to 
dry,  with  two  small  stones  upon  the  palms  to  keep 
them  from  blowing  away."  It  would  be  wrong  to 
measure  the  value  of  these  gloves  by  the  price  they 
could  be  bought  for  in  Bond  Street  or  Broadway.  The 
Arctic  traveler  they  belonged  to  intended  to  come  back 
for  them,  and  did  not  probably  forget  them  in  his 
hurry. 

The  facts  I  have  mentioned,  almost  all  of  them,  have 
been  so  ably  analyzed  already,  that  I  might  be  ex- 
cused from  venturing  any  deductions  of  my  own.  But 
it  was  impossible  to  review  the  circumstances  as  >  e 
stood  upon  the  ground  without  forming  an  '^pinion ; 
and  such  as  mine  was,  it  is  perhaps  best  that  1  should 
express  it  here, 

lu  the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that  Sir  John  Franklin's 
consort,  the  Terror,  wintered  in  1845-G  at  or  near  the 
promontory  of  Beechy ;  that  at  least  part  of  her  crew 
roMiained  on  board  of  her;  and  that  some  of  the  crew 
ol'the  fiag-ship,  the  Erebus,  if  not  the  sliip  herself,  were 
also  there.  It  is  also  phiin  tiuit  a  part  of  one  or  both 
these  crews  was  occupied  during  a  portion  of  the  win- 
ter in  the  various  pursuits  of  an  organized  squadron, 
at  an  encampment  o'    the  isthmus  I  have  described, 


I 


I:  l|l»:|  I 


mm 
i'lti 

i'ii 


4i>G 


CONJECTURE. 


a  position  which  coinmniided  a  full  view  of  Lancaster 
Sound  to  the  east  of  soutli,  and  of  Wellington  Chan- 
nel  extending  north.  It  may  be  fairly  inferred,  also, 
that  the  general  health  of  the  crews  had  not  sufl'ered 
severely,  three  only  having  died  out  of  a  hundred  and 
thirty  odd ;  and  that  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  details 
of  duty,  they  were  occupied  in  conducting  and  comput- 
ing astronomical  observations,  making  sledges,  prepar- 
ing their  little  anti-scorbutic  garden  patches,  and  ex- 
ploring the  eastern  shore  of  the  channel.  Many  facts 
that  we  ourselves  observed  made  it  seem  probable  that 
Franklin  had  not,  in  the  lirst  instance,  been  able  to 
prosecute  his  instructions  for  the  Western  search  ;  and 
the  examinations  made  so  I'uUy  since  by  Captain  Aus- 
tin's officers  have  proved  that  he  never  reached  Cape 
Walker,  Banks'  Land,  Melville  Island,  Prince  Regent's 
Inlet,  or  any  point  of  the  sound  considerably  to  the 
west  or  southwest.  The  whole  story  of  our  combined 
operations  in  and  about  the  channel  shows  that  it  is 
along  its  eastern  margin  that  the  water-leads  occur 
most  frequently :  natural  causes  of  general  Application 
may  be  assigned  for  this,  some  of  which  will  readily 
suggest  themselves  to  the  physicist;  but  I  have  only 
to  do  here  with  the  recognized  fact. 

So  far  I  think  we  proceed  safely.  The  rest  is  con- 
jectural. Let  us  suppose  the  season  for  renewed  prog- 
ress to  be  approaching;  Franklin  and  his  crews,  with 
their  vessels,  one  or  both,  looking  out  anxiously  from 
their  narrow  isthmus  for  the  first  openings  of  the  ice. 
They  come  :  a  gale  of  wind  has  severed  the  pack,  and 
the  drift  begins.  The  first  clear  water  that  would  meet 
his  eye  would  be  close  to  the  shore  on  which  he  had 
his  encampment.  Would  he  wait  till  the  continued 
drift  had  made  the  navigation  practicable  in  Lancas- 


*er  Soun 
regions  oi 
out  a  Jo, 

through  1 

^'ho  knov 

ills  deterij 

h  puhiiHh 

think  the  ( 

already  pj, 

ourselves  t 

north  in  ^ 

that  .sojne  J 

hej'ond.    .JV. 

influence  foi 

ing  luivigatt 

lead  to  close, 

the  ob.servat( 

tablisliinont 

understand  h 

^^^^<^\  yet  no 

shore ;  Jiow  n 

h's  blanket  o 

his  lost  key. 

some  explaiii 

know  wJiat  1 

fendaiit  on  ju 

'>oin  a  weary 

of  energetic  a 


CONJECTURE. 


427 


ter  Sound,  and  then  retrace  his  steps  to  try  the  upper 
regions  of  Baffin's  Bay,  which  he  could  not  reach  with- 
out a  long  circuit ;  or  would  he  press  to  the  north 
through  the  open  lead  that  lay  before  him  (  Those 
who  know  Franklin's  character,  his  declared  opinions, 
his  determined  purpose,  so  well  portrayed  in  the  late- 
ly publishetl  letters  of  one  of  his  officers,  will  hardly 
think  the  question  difficult  to  answer :  his  sledges  had 
already  pioneered  the  way.  AV^e,  the  searchers,  were 
ourselves  tempted,  by  the  insidious  openings  to  the 
north  in  Wellington  Channel,  to  push  on  in  the  hope 
that  some  lucky  chance  might  point  us  to  an  outlet 
beyond.  »Might  not  the  same  temptation  have  hud  its 
influence  for  Sir  John  Franklin  ?  A  careful  and  dar- 
ing navigator,  such  as  he  was,  would  not  wait  for  the 
lead  to  close.  I  can  iuiagine  the  dispatch  with  which 
the  observatory  would  be  dismantled,  the  armorer's  es- 
tablishment broken  up,  and  the  camp  vacated.  1  can 
understand  how  the  preserved  meat  cans,  not  very  val- 
uable, yet  not  worthless,  might  be  left  piled  upon  the 
shore  ;  how  '"  «»  man  might  leave  his  mittens,  another 
his  blanket  coat,  and  a  third  hurry  over  the  search  for 
his  lost  key.  And  if  1  were  required  to  conjecture 
some  explanation  of  the  empty  signal  cairn,  I  do  not 
know  what  I  could  refer  it  to  but  the  excitement  at- 
tendant on  just  such  a  sudden  and  unexpected  release 
ironi  a  weary  imprisonment,  and  the  instant  prospect 
of  energetic  and  perilous  adventure. 


i: 


I   I! 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  EXPEDITION. 

(cONTHnJED.) 

"August  28.  Strange  enough,  during  the  night, 
Captain  Austin,  of  her  majesty's  search  squadron,  with 
Lis  flag-ship  the  Resolute,  entered  the  same  little  in- 
dentation in  which  five  of  us  were  moored  before.  His 
steam-tender,  the  Pioneer,  grounded  off  the  point  of 
Beechy  Island,  and  is  now  in  sight,  canted  over  by  the 
ice  nearly  to  her  beam  ends. 

"  I  called  this  morning  on  Sir  John  Ross,  and  had  a 
long  talk  with  him.  He  said  that,  as  far  back  as  1847, 
anticipating  the  '  detention'  of  Sir  John  Franklin — I 
use  his  own  word — he  had  volunteered  his  services  for 
an  expedition  of  retrieve,  asking  for  the  purpose  four 
small  vessels,  something  like  our  own ;  but  no  one  list- 
ened to  him.  A^oiunteering  again  in  1848,  he  was 
told  that  his  nephew's  claim  to  the  service  had  re- 
ceived  a  recognition ;  whereupon  his  own  was  with- 
drawn. •  I  told  Sir  John,'  said  Ross, '  that  my  own  ex- 
perience in  these  seas  proved  that  all  these  sounds  and 
inlets  may,  by  the  caprice  or  even  the  routine  of  sea- 
sons, be  closed  so  as  to  prevent  any  egress,  and  that  a 
missing  or  shut-off  party  must  have  some  means  of 
falling  back.  It  was  thus  I  saved  myself  from  the 
abandoned  Victory  by  a  previously  constructed  house 
for  wintering,  and  a  boat  for  temporary  refuge.'  All 
this,  he  says,  he  pressed  on  Sir  John  Franklin  before 


he  set  out 
the  seat  o 
it/  he  add 
to  be  foJJo 
the  party, 
sent  out  on 
Sound  in  t 
leased,  cont 
Barrow's  St 
journal,  tho 
disproved  bj 
and  Jangnag 
characteristi( 
"  I  next  vi 
how  their  pe 
ter  contrastet 
i  had  to  sha: 
when  I  saw  h 
pie  with  the 
judge  of  it  by 
the  British  sq 
power  to  cope 
have  nothing  I 
"  The  office! 
cordiality  of  ra 
tiemanly,  wel|l 
the  history  of  f 
of  personal  resi 
»eet  an  old  J 
admirably  artiJ 
otints,  at  Mr.  | 
When  we  werJ 
'caJ  jungles  of] 
cycas,  and  baml 


VISIT    TO    THE    RESOLUTE. 


429 


he  set  out,  and  he  thinks  that  IMelville  Island  is  now 
the  seat  of  such  a  house-asylum.  '  For,  depend  upon 
it,'  he  added, '  Franklin  will  be  expecting  some  of  us 
to  be  following  on  his  traces.  Now,  may  it  be  that 
the  party,  whose  winter  quarters  we  have  disco ve'red, 
sent  out  only  exploring  detachments  along  Wellington 
Sound  in  the  spring,  and  then,  when  themselves  re- 
leased, continued  on  to  the  west,  by  Cape  Hotham  and 
Barrow's  Straits  V  I  have  given  this  extract  from  my 
journal,  though  the  theory  it  suggests  has  since  been 
disproved  by  Lieutenant  M'Clintock,  because  the  tone 
and  language  of  Sir  John  Ross  may  be  regarded  as 
characteristic  of  this  manly  old  seaman. 

"  I  next  visited  the  Resolute.  I  shall  not  here  say 
how  their  perfect  organization  and  provision  for  win- 
ter contrasted  with  those  of  our  own  little  expedition. 
I  had  to  shake  off  a  feeling  almost  of  despondency 
when  I  saw  how  much  better  fitted  they  were  to  grap. 
pie  with  the  grim  enemy.  Cold.  Winter,  if  we  may 
judge  of  it  by  the  clothing  and  warming  appliances  of 
the  British  squadron,  must  be  something  beyond  our 
power  to  cope  with  ;  for,  in  comparison  with  them,  we 
have  nothing,  absolutely  nothing. 

"  The  officers  received  me,  for  I  was  alone,  with  the 
cordiality  of  recognized  brotherhood.  They  are  a  gen- 
tlemanly, well-educated  set  of  men,  t'^oroughly  up  to 
the  history  of  what  has  been  done  by  others,  and  full 
of  personal  resource.  Among  them  I  was  rejoiced  to 
meet  an  old  acquaintance,  Lieutenant  Brown,  whose 
admirably  artistic  sketches  I  had  seen  in  Haghe's  lith- 
otints,  at  Mr.  Grinnell's,  before  leaving  New  York. 
When  we  were  together  last,  it  was  among  the  trop. 
leal  jungles  of  Luzon,  surrounded  by  the  palm,  the 
cycas,  and  bamboo,  in  the  glowing  extreme  of  A'egeta. 


I  I 


430 


VISIT    TO    PENNir. 


ble  exuberance :  here  we  are  met  once  more,  in  the 
stinted  region  of  lichen  and  mosses.     He  was  then  a 
junior,  under  Sir  Edward  Belcher :  I — what  I  am  yet. 
The  lights  and  shadows  of  a  naval  life  are  nowhe 
betfer,  and,  alas !  nowhere  worse  displayed,  than   j 
these  remote  accidental  greetings. 

*'  Returning,  I  paid  a  visit  to  Penny's  vessels,  and 
formed  a  very  agreeable  acquaintance  with  the  med- 
ical officer,  Dr.  U.  Anstruther  Goodsir,  a  brother  of  as. 
sistiuit  surgeon  Goodsir  of  Franklin's  flag-ship. 

**  In  commemoration  of  the  gathering  of  the  search- 
ing squadrons  within  the  little  cove  of  Beechy  Point, 
Commodore  Austin  has  named  it,  very  appropriately. 
Union  Bay.  It  is  here  the  Mary  is  deposited  as  an 
asylum  to  fall  back  upon  in  case  of  disaster. 

*'  The  sun  is  traveling  rapidly  to  the  south,  so  that 
our  recently  glaring  midnight  is  now  a  twilight  gloom. 
The  coloring  over  the  hills  at  Point  Innes  this  even- 
ing was  sombre,  but  in  deep  reds;  and  the  sky  had  an 
inhospitable  coldness.  It  made  me  thoughtful  to  see 
the  long  shadows  stretching  out  upon  the  snow  toward 
the  isthmus  of  the  Graves. 

"  The  wind  is  from  the  north  and  westward,  and  the 
ice  is  so  driven  in  around  us  as  to  grate  and  groan 
against  the  sides  of  our  little  vessel.  The  masses, 
though  small,  are  very  thick,  and  by  the  surging  of 
the  sea  have  been  rubbed  as  round  as  pebbles.  They 
make  an  abominable  noise." 

The  remaining  days  of  August  were  not  character- 
ized by  any  incident  of  note.  We  had  the  same  al- 
ternations of  progress  and  retreat  through  the  ice  as 
before,  and  without  sensibly  advancing  toward  the 
western  shore,  which  it  was  now  our  object  to  reach. 
The  next  extracts  from  my  journal  are  of  the  date  of 
September  3d. 


"After 
ice,  we  fii 
and  begun 
the  fieJ(J. 
eastern  sIk 
coa.stsofC 
seals— nine 
cheeks — ar 
"  Ti,o  ice 
have  jriet  a\ 
is  sometime 
ground  and 
that  they  ris 
them  forty  f 
ieading — a  j 
a»d  one  tha 
iund  party  tl 
to  tlie  eccent 
he  a  sleeples.' 

De  IJaven  to 
were  fa^t  wi< 
now,  tliough 
and  there/ore 
niasses  under 
ward  trend  di 
not  borne  do\^ 
^y  in  slow  pro 
*o  say  the  lea; 
up-piled  block; 
and  to  won  del 
niain-yard  or 
hummocks  wt, 
*>"*  a  littlo  pn 
«hied  them  off. 


ICE    DRIFTIMO. 

"  After  floating  down,  warping,  to  avoid  the  loose 
ice,  we  finally  cast  ofl"  in  comparatively  open  water, 
and  began  heating  toward  Cape  Spencer  to  get  round 
the  field.  Once  there,  we  got  along  finely,  sinking  the 
eastern  shore  by  degrees,  and  nearing  the  undelineated 
coasts  of  Cornwallis  Island.  White  whales,  narwhals, 
seals — among  them  the  Phoca  leonina  with  his  puffed 
cheeks — and  two  bears,  were  seen. 

*'  The  ice  is  tremendous,  far  ahead  of  any  thing  we 
have  met  with.  The  thickness  of  the  upraised  tables 
is  sometimes  fourteen  feet ;  and  the  hummocks  are  so 
ground  and  distorted  by  the  rude  attrition  of  the  floes, 
that  they  rise  up  in  cones  like  crushed  sugar,  some  of 
them  forty  feet  high.  But  that  the  queer  life  we  are 
leading — a  life  of  constant  exposure  and  excitement, 
and  one  that  seems  more  like  the  *  roughing  it'  of  a 
land  party  than  the  life  of  shipboard — has  inured  us 
lo  the  eccentric  fancies  of  the  ice,  our  position  would 
be  a  sleepless  one.  «  * 

*^ September  4,  2  A.M.  Was  awakened  by  Captain 
De  Haven  to  look  at  the  ice :  an  impressive  sight.  We 
were  fast  with  three  anchors  to  the  main  floe ;  and 
now,  though  the  wind  was  still  from  the  northward, 
and  therefore  in  opposition  to  the  drift,  the  floating 
masses  under  the  action  of  the  tide  came  with  a  west- 
ward trend  directly  past  us.  Fortunately,  they  were 
not  borne  down  upon  the  vessels ;  but,  as  they  went 
by  in  slow  procession  to  the  west,  our  sensations  were, 
to  say  the  least,  sensations.  It  was  very  grand  to  see 
up-piled  blocks  twenty  feet  and  more  above  our  heads, 
and  to  wonder  whether  this  fellow  would  strike  our 
main-yard  or  clear  our  stern.  Some  of  the  moving 
hummocks  were  thirty  feet  high.  They  grazed  us ; 
but  a  little  projection  of  the  main  field  to  windward 
shied  them  off". 


w 

( 

i 
I 

( 

1        ' 

i- 

t   1 1; 


432 


ICE    FORMINO. 


"We  were  seated  cosily  around  our  little  table  in 
the  cabin,  imagining  our  harbor  of  land  ice  perlectly 
secure,  when  we  were  startled  by  a  crash.  We  rush, 
ed  on  deck  just  in  time  to  see  the  solid  floe  to  wind- 
ward part  in  the  middle,  liberate  itself  from  its  attach- 
ment to  the  shore,  and  bear  down  upon  us  with  the 
full  energy  of  the  storm.  Our  lee  bristled  ominously 
half  a  ship's  length  from  us,  and  to  the  east  was  the 
main  drift.  The  Rescue  was  first  caught,  nipped 
astern,  and  lifted  bodily  out  of  water;  fortunately,  she 
withstood  the  pressure,  and  rising  till  she  snapped  her 
cable,  launched  into  open  water,  crushing  the  young 
ice  before  her.  The  Advance,  by  hard  warping,  drew 
a  little  closer  to  the  cove ;  and,  a  moment  after,  the  ice 
drove  by,  j  ust  clearing  our  stern.  Commodore  Austin's 
vessels  were  imprisoned  in  the  moving  fragments,  and 
carried  helplessly  past  us.  In  a  very  little  while  they 
were  some  four  miles  off." 

The  summer  was  now  leaving  us  rapidly.  The 
thermometer  had  been  at  21°  and  23°  for  several  nights, 
and  scarcely  rose  above  32°  in  the  daytime.  Our  lit- 
tle harbor  at  Barlow's  Inlet  was  completely  blocked 
in  by  heavy  masses ;  the  new  ice  gave  plenty  of  sport 
to  the  skaters  ;  but  on  shipboard  it  was  uncomfortably 
cold.  As  yet  we  had  no  fires  Below;  and,  after  draw- 
ing around  me  the  India-rubber  curtains  of  my  berth, 
with  my  lamp  burning  inside,  I  frequently  wrote  my 
journal  in  a  freezing  temperature.  "This  is  not  very 
cold,  no  doubt" — I  quote  from  an  entry  of  the  8th — 
"not  very  cold  to  your  forty-five  minus  men  of  Arctic 
winters ;  but  to  us  poor  devils  from  the  zone  of  the 
liriodendrons  and  peaches,  it  is  rather  cool  for  the 
September  month  of  water-melons.  My  bear  with  his 
arsenic  swabs  is  a  solid  lump,  and  some  birds  that 


RENDEZVOUS. 


433 


are  waiting  to  be  skinned  are  absolutely  rigid  with 
frost." 

In  the  afternoon  of  this  day,  the  8tli,  we  went  to 
work,  all  hands,  officers  included,  to  cut  up  the  young 
ice  and  tow  it  out  into  the  current:  once  there,  the  drift 
carried  it  rapidly  to  the  south.  We  cleared  away  in 
this  manner  a  space  of  some  forty  yards  square,  and  at 
five  the  next  morning  were  rewarded  by  being  again 
under  weigh.  We  were  past  Cape  Hotham  by  break- 
fast-time on  the  9th,  and  in  the  afternoon  were  beat- 
ing to  the  west  in  Lancaster  Sound. 

"  The  sound  presented  a  novel  spectacle  to  us ;  the 
young  ice  glazing  it  over,  so  as  to  form  a  viscid  sea  of 
sludge  and  tickly-benders,  from  the  northern  shore  to 
the  pack,  a  distance  of  at  least  ten  miles.  This  was 
mingled  with  the  drift  floes  from  Wellington  Chan- 
nel ;  and  in  them,  steaming  away  manfully,  were  the 
Resolute  and  Pioneer.  The  wind  was  dead  ahead ; 
yet,  but  for  the  new  ice,  there  was  a  clear  sea  to  the 
west.  What,  then,  was  our  mortification,  first,  to  see 
our  pack-bound  neighbors  force  themselves  from  their 
prison  and  steam  ahead  dead  in  the  wind's  eye,  and, 
next,  to  be  overhauled  by  Penny,  and  passed  by  both 
his  brigs.  We  are  now  the  last  of  all  the  searchers, 
except  perhaps  old  Sir  John,  who  is  probably  yet  in 
Union  Bay,  or  at  least  east  of  the  straits. 

"  The  shores  along  which  we  are  passing  are  of  the 
same  configuration  with  the  coast  to  the  east  of  Beechy 
Islapd  ;  the  cliffs,  however,  are  not  so  high,  and  their 
bluff  appearance  is  relieved  occasionally  by  terraces 
and  shingle  beach.  The  lithological  characters  of  the 
limestone  appear  to  be  the  same. 

"  We  are  all  together  here,  on  a  single  track  but  lit- 
tle wider  than  the  Delaware  or  Hudson.     There  is  no 


W 


fk 


I 


i 


( 


434 


RENDEZVOUS. 


gettiu<r  out  of  it,  for  tho  slioro  is  on  one  side  and  the 
fixed  ice  close  on  the  other.  All  have  the  lead  of  us, 
and  we  are  working  only  to  save  a  distance.  Ornman- 
ney  must  be  near  Melville  by  this  time:  pleasant, 
very! 

"Closing  memoranda  for  the  day:  1.  I  have  the 
rheumatism  in  my  knees ;  2.  I  left  a  bag  containing 
my  dross  suit  of  uniforms,  and,  what  is  worse,  my  win- 
ter suit  of  furs,  and  with  them  my  double-barrel  gun, 
on  board  Austin's  vessel.  The  gale  of  the  7th  has 
carried  him  and  them  out  of  sight. 

"  September  10.  Unaccountable,  most  unaccounta- 
ble, the  caprices  of  this  ice-locked  region  !  Here  we 
are  again  all  together,  even  Ommanney  with  the  rest. 
The  Resolute,  Intrepid,  Assistance,  Pioneer,  Lady 
Franklin,  Sophia,  Advance,  and  Rescue  ;  Austin,  Om- 
manney, Penny,  and  De  Haven,  all  anchored  to  the 
'  fast'  ofl'  Griffith's  Island.  Tho  way  to  the  west  com- 
pletely shut  out." 

"September  1 1,  Wednesday.  Snow, light  and  fleecy, 
covering  the  decks,  and  carried  by  our  clothes  into  our 
little  cabin.  The  moisture  of  the  atmosphere  con- 
denses over  the  beams,  and  tricikles  down  over  the 
lockers  and  bedding.  We  are  still  alonjj  side  of  the 
fixed  ice  off  Griffith's  Island,  and  the  British  squad- 
ron under  Commodore  Austin  are  clustered  together 
within  three  hundred  yards  of  us.  Penny,  like  an  in- 
defatigable old  trump,  as  he  is,  is  out,  pushing,  work- 
ing, groping  in  the  fog.  The  sludge  ice,  that  had 
driven  in  around  us  and  almost  congealed  under  our 
stern,  is  now  by  the  ebb  of  tho  tide,  or  at  least  its 
change,  carried  out  again,  although  the  wind  still  sets 
toward  the  floe. 


A   OALB. 


'*  At  three  the  Rescue  parted  her  cable's  hold,  and 
was  carried  out  to  sea,  leaving  two  men,  her  boat,  and 
her  anchors  behind.     We  snapped  our  stern-cablo,  lost 
our  aiu'iior,  swung  out,  but  fortunately  lield  by  the 
forward  lino.     All  the  English  vessels  were  in  similar 
peril,  the  Pioneer  beinjy  at  one  time  actually  free  ;  and 
Commodore  Austin,  who  in  the  Resolute  occupied  the 
head  of  tho  lino,  was  in  momentary  fear  of  coming 
down  upon  us.    Altogether  I  have  seldom  seen  a  night 
of  proater  trial.     Tho  wind  roared  over  the  snow  Hoes, 
and  every  thing    bout  the  vessel  froze  into  heavy  ice 
stalactites.     Had  the  main  floe  parted,  we  had  been 
carried  down  with  the  liberated  ice.    Fortunately,  ev- 
ery thing  held  ;  and  here  we  are,  safe  and  sound.    The 
Rescue  was  last  seen  beating  to  windward  ugainst  the 
gale,  probably  seeking  a  lee  under  Griffith's  Island. 
This  nioiiiiiig  the  snow  continues  in  the  form  of  a  fine 
cuttinjjf  dril't,  the  water  freezes  wherever  it  touches, 
and  the  thennometer  has  been  at  no  time  above  17". 

"Srpteinbcr  12,  10  P.M.  Just  from  deck.  IIow  very 
dismal  every  thing  seems !  The  snow  is  driven  like 
sand  upon  a  level  reach,  '  fted  up  in  long  curve  lines, 
and  then  obscuring  the  atmosphere  with  a  white  dark- 
ness. The  wind,  too,  is  howling  in  a  shrill  minor, 
singing  across  the  hummock  ridges.  The  eight  ves- 
sels  are  no  longer  here.  The  Rescue  is  driven  out  to 
sea,  and  poor  Penny  is  probably  to  the  southward. 
Five  black  masses,  however,  their  cordnge  defined  by 
rhne  and  snow,  are  seen  with  their  snouts  shoved  into 
the  shore  of  ice :  cables,  chains,  and  anchors  are  cov- 
ered feet  below  the  drift,  and  the  ships  adhere  mys- 
terious?ly,  their  tackle  completely  invisible.  Should 
any  of  us  break  away,  the  gale  would  carry  us  into 
streams  of  heavy  floating  ice ;  aud  our  running  rig. 

26 


!  t 


436 


THE    GALE. 


r 


m 


ging  is  so  coated  with  icicles  as  to  make  it  impossible 
to  work  it.     The  thernioiueter  stands  at  1  r. 

"At  this  temperature  the  young  ice  lorms  in  spite 
of  the  increasing  movement  of  the  waves,  stretching 
out  from  the  floe  in  long,  zigzag  lines  of  smoothness 
resembling  watered  silk.  The  loose  ice  seems  to  havo 
a  southerly  and  easterly  drift ;  and,  from  the  increas- 
ing distance  of  Griffith's  Island,  seen  during  occasional 
intervals,  we  are  evidently  moving  en  masse  to  the 
south. 

"Now  when  you  remember  that  we  are  in  open 
sea,  attached  to  precarious  ice,  and  surrounded  by 
floating  streams  ;  that  the  coast  is  unknown,  and  the 
ice  forming  inshore,  so  as  to  make  harbors,  if  we  knew 
of  them,  inaccessible,  you  may  suppose  that  our  posi- 
tion is  far  from  pleasant.  One  harbor  was  discovered 
by  a  lieutenant  of  the  Assistance  some  days  ago,  and 
named  Assistance  Harbor,  but  that  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion ;  the  wind  is  not  only  a  gale,  but  ahead.  Had 
we  the  quarters  of  Capua  before  us,  we  should  be  un- 
able to  reach  them.     It  is  a  windward  shore. 

"11  P.M.  Captain  De  Haven  reports  ice  forming 
fast:  extra  anchors  are  out;  thermometer  fS".  The 
British  squadron,  under  Austin,  have  fires  in  full  blast; 
we  are  without  them  still. 

"12M.  In  bed,  reading  or  trying  to  read.  The  gale 
has  increased  ;  the  Hoes  are  in  upon  us  I'rom  the  east- 
ward;  and  it  is  evident  that  we  are  all  of  us  driftin|J[ 
bodily,  God  knows  where,  for  we  have  no  means  of 
taking  observations. 

"  September  13,  10  A.M.  Found,  on  awaking,  that 
at  about  three  this  morning  the  squadron  commenced 
getting  under  weigh.  The  rime-coated  rigging  was 
cleared ;  the  hawsers  thashed  ;  the  ice-clogged  boats 


FOR    GRIFFITH   S    ISLAND. 


437 


Pi 


hauled  in ;  the  steamers  steamed,  and  off  went  the 
rest  of  us  as  we  might.  This  step  was  not  taken  a 
whit  too  soon,  if  it  be  ordained  that  we  are  yet  in 
time ;  for  the  stream-ice  covers  the  entire  horizon,  anil 
the  large  floe  or  main  which  we  have  deserted  is  bare- 
ly separated  from  the  drifting  masses.  The  Rescue  is 
now  the  object  of  our  search.  Could  she  be  found, 
the  captain  has  determined  to  turn  his  steps  home- 
ward. 

"11  20  A.M.  We  are  working,  I.  e.,  beating  our  way 
in  the  narrow  leads  intervening  irregularly  between 
the  main  ice  and  the  drift.  We  have  gained  at  least 
two  miles  to  windward  of  Austin's  squadron,  who  are 
unable,  in  spite  of  steamers,  to  move  along  these  dan- 
gerous passages  like  ourselves.  Our  object  is  to  reach 
Griffith's  Ishind,  from  which  we  have  drifted  some  fif- 
teen miles  with  the  main  ice,  and  then  look  out  for 
our  lost  consort. 

"The  lowest  temperature  last  night  was  +5°,  but 
the  wind  makes  it  colder  to  sensation.  We  are  grind- 
ing through  newly-formed  ico  three  inches  thick  ;  the 
perfect  consolidation  being  prevented  by  its  motion  and 
the  wind.  Even  in  the  little  fireless  cabin  in  which 
I  now  write,  water  and  coffee  are  freezing,  and  the 
morcury  stands  at  29°. 

"The  navigation  is  certainly  exciting.'  I  have  nev- 
er seen  a  description  in  my  Arctic  readings  of  any 
thing  like  this.  We  are  literally  running  for  our  lives, 
surrounded  by  the  imminent  hazards  of  sudden  con- 
solidation in  an  open  sea.  All  minor  perils,  nips, 
bumps,  and  sunken  bergs  are  discarded  ;  we  are  stag- 
goring  along  under  all  sail,  forcing  our  way  wliilo  we 
can.  One  thump,  received  since  I  commenced  writ- 
ing, jerked  the  time-keeper  from  our  binnacle  down 


438 


ORDER    FOR    RETURN. 


the  cabin  hatch,  and,  but  for  our  strong  bows,  seven 
and  a  half  solid  feet,  would  have  stove  us  in.  Anotli- 
er  time,  we  cleared  a  tongue  of  the  main  pack  by  rid- 
ing it  down  at  eight  knots.  Commodore  Austin  seems 
caught  by  the  closing  floes.     This  is  really  sharp  work. 

"4  P.M.  We  continued  beating  toward  Grillith's  Is- 
land, till,  by  doubling  a  tongue  of  ice,  we  were  able  to 
force  our  way.  The  English  seemed  to  watch  our 
movements,  and  almost  to  follow  in  our  wake,  till  we 
came  to  a  comp.aratively  open  space,  about  the  area  of 
Washington  Square,  where  we  stood  off  and  on,  the 
ice  beinp"  too  close  upon  the  eastern  end  of  Griffith's 
Island  to  permit  us  to  pass.  Our  companions  in  tiiis 
little  vacancy  were  Captain  Ommanney's  Assistance ; 
Osborne's  steam  tender  the  Pioneer,  and  Kater's  steam- 
er the  Intrepid.  Commodore  Austin's  vessel  was  to 
the  southward,  entangled  in  the  moving  ice,  but  mo- 
mentarily n caring  the  open  leads. 

While  thus  boxing  about  on  one  of  our  tacks,  we 
neared  the  north  edge  of  our  little  opening,  and  were 
hailed  by  the  Assistance  with  the  glad  intelligence  of  the 
Rescue  close  under  tlie  island.  Our  captain,  who  was 
at  his  usual  post,  conning  the  ship  from  the  foretop- 
sail  yard,  made  her  out  at  the  same  time,  and  immedi- 
ately determined  upon  boring  the  intervening  ice. 
This  was  done  successfully,  the  brig  bearing  the  hiird 
knocks  nobly.  Strange  to  »ay,  the  English  vessels, 
now  joined  by  Austin,  followed  in  our  wake — a  com- 
pliment, certainly,  to  De  Haven's  ice-mastershij). 

We  were  no  sooner  through,  than  signal  was  made 
to  the  Rescue  to  *  cast  off,'  and  our  ensign  Avas  run  up 
from  the  peak  :  the  captain  had  determined  upon  at- 
tempting a  return  to  the  United  States. 

In  a  little  while  we  had  the  Rescue  in  tow,  and  were 


headin 
it  afte; 


THE    EESCDE    NIPPED. 


439 


heading  to  the  east.  She  had  had  a  fearful  night  of 
it  after  leaving  us.  She  beat  about,  short-handed, 
clogged  with  ice,  and  with  the  thermometer  at  8°. 
The  snow  fell  heavily,  and  the  rigging  was  a  solid,  al- 
most unmanageable  lump.  Steering,  or  rather  beating, 
she  made,  on  the  evening  of  the  12th,  the  southern 
edge  of  Griffith's  Island,  and  by  good  luck  and  excel- 
lent management  succeeded  in  holding  to  the  land 
hummocks.  She  had  split  her  rudder  post  so  as  to 
m.ike  her  unworhahle,  and  now  we  have  her  in  tow. 
An  anchor  with  its  fluke  snapped — her  best  bower ; 
and  her  little  boat,  stove  in  by  the  ice,  was  cut  adrift. 

We  were  now  homeward  bound,  but  a  saddened 
homeward  bound  for  all  of  us.  The  vessels  of  our 
gallant  brethren  soon  lost  themselves  in  the  mist,  and 
we  steered  our  course  with  a  fresh  breeze  for  Cape 
Ilotham. 

The  night  gave  us  now  three  hours  of  complete 
darkness.  It  was  danger  to  run  on,  yet  equally  dan- 
ger to  pause.  Grim  winter  was  following  close  upon 
our  heols  ;  and  even  the  captain,  sanguine  and  fear- 
less in  emergency  as  he  always  proved  himself,  as  he 
saw  the  tenacious  fields  of  sludge  and  pancake  thick- 
enino,  around  us,  bet^an  to  feel  anxious.  Mine  was  a 
jumble  of  sensations.  I  had  been  desirous  to  the  last 
(loun-ee  that  we  might  remain  on  the  field  of  search, 
and  could  hardly  be  dissatisfied  at  what  promised  to 
realize  my  wish.  Yet  I  had  hoped  that  our  wintering 
Would  be  near  our  English  friends,  that  in  case  of 
ti -ihle  or  disease  Ave  might  mutually  sustain  each 
other.  But  the  interval  of  fiftv  miles  between  us,  in 
tlieso  inhospitable  deserts,  was  as  complete  a  separa- 
tion as  an  entire  <>ontinent ;  and  I  confess  that  I  look- 
ed at  the  dark  shadows  closing  around  Barlow's  Inlet^ 


; ! 


te 


440 


FROZEN     IN. 


the  prison  from  which  Ave  cut  ourselves  on  the  seventh, 
just  six  days  before,  with  feelings  as  sombre  as  the 
landscape  itself 

The  sound  of  our  vessel  crunchhig  her  way  throuf>-h 
the  new  ice  is  not  easy  to  be  described.  It  was  not 
like  the  grinding  of  the  old  formed  ice,  nor  wius  it 
the  slushy  scraping  of  sludge.  We  may  all  of  us  re- 
member, in  the  skating  frolics  of  early  days,  the  pecu- 
liar reverberating  outcry  of  a  ])ebble,  as  we  tossed  it 
from  us  along  the  edges  of  an  old  mill-dam,  and  heard 
it  dying  away  in  echoes  almost  musical.  Imagine 
such  a. tone  as  this,  combined  with  the  whir  of  rapid 
motion,  and  the  rasping  noise  of  close-grained  suj^ar. 
I  was  listening  to  the  sound  in  my  little  den,  after  a 
.sorrowful  day,  close  upon  zero,  trying  to  warm  up  my 
stiflened  limbs.  Presently  it  grew  less,  then  increased, 
then  stopped,  then  went  on  again,  bvit  jerking  and  ir- 
regular; and  then  it  waned,  and  waned,  and  waned 
away  to  silence. 

Down  came  the  captain  :  "  Doctor,  the  ice  has  caught 
us :  we  are  frozen  up."  On  went  my  furs  at  once.  As 
I  readied  the  deck,  the  Avind  Avas  there  blowing  stiff, 
and  the  sails  Avere  fdled  and  pufling  with  it.  It  was 
not  yet  dark  enougli  to  hide  the  smooth  surface  of  ioe 
that  fdled  up  the  horizon,  holding  tlie  American  expe- 
dition in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin  imbedded  in  its 
centre.  There  Ave  Avere,  literally  frozen  tight  in  the 
mid-channel  of  Wellington's  Straits. 

The  region,  Avhich  ten  days  before  Avas  teeming  with 
animal  life,  Avas  now  ahnost  deserted.  We  saAV  but 
one  narAvhal  and  a  fcAV  seal.  Tlie  Ivory  gull  too,  a 
solitary  traveler,  occasionally  flitted  by  us;  but  the 
season  had  evidently  wrouglit  its  change. 

Several  flocks  uf  the  snow  bunting  had  passed  over 


nw 


DRIFTING. 


441 


u$  while  we  were  attached  to  the  main  ice  off  Griffith's 
Island,  and  a  single  raven  was  seen  from  the  Rescue 
at  lier  holding  grounds.  The  Brent  geese,  however, 
the  dovekies,  the  divers,  indeed  all  the  anat'dte,  the 
white  whales,  the  walrus,  the  hearded  and  m  hirsute 
seal,  the  Avhito  hear,  whatever  gave  us  life  and  inci- 
dent, had  vanished. 

For  some  days  after  this,  an  ohscurity  of  fog  and 
snow  made  it  imi^ossihle  to  see  more  than  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  ship.  The  little  area  remained 
fust  hound,  tlie  ice  bearing  us  readily,  though  a  very 
slight  motion  against  the  sides  of  the  vessel  seemed 
to  show  that  it  was  not  perfectly  attached  to  the  shores. 
But  as  I  stood  on  deck  in  the  afternoon  of  the  16th, 
watching  the  coast  to  the  east  of  us,  as  the  clouds 
cleared  away  for  the  first  time,  it  struck  me  that  its 
configuration  was  unknown  to  me.  By-and  by,  Cape 
Beechy,  the  isthmus  of  the  Graves,  loomed  up ;  and 
we  then  found  that  we  were  a  little  to  the  north  of 
Cape  Bowden. 

The  next  two  days  this  northward  drift  continued 
without  remission.  The  wind  blew  strong  from  the 
southward  and  eastward,  sometimes  approaching  to  a 
gale  ;  but  the  ice-pack  around  us  retained  its  tenacity, 
and  incrcascil  rapidly  in  thickness. 

Yet  every  now  and  then  we  could  see  that  at  some 
short  distance  it  was  broken  by  small  pools  of  water, 
which  would  ho  effaced  again,  soon  after  they  were 
formed,  by  an  external  pressure.  At  these  times  our 
vessels  underwent  a  nipi»ing  on  a  small  scale.  The 
smoother  ice-field  that  luld  us  would  be  driven  in,  pil- 
ng  itself  in  miniature  hummocks  about  us,  sometimes 
higher  than  our  decks,  and  much  too  near  them  to 
leave  us  a  sense  of  security  against  their  further  ad- 


I 


liJ 


■')\ 


K  ■ 


tM 


\ 


1 


442 


NIPPINGS. 


vance.  The  noises,  too,  of  whining  puppies  and  swarm- 
ing bees  made  part  of  these  demonstrations,  much  as 
when  the  heavier  masses  were  at  work,  but  shriller 
perhaps,  and  more  clamorous. 

I  was  ai'oused  at  midnight  of  the  ICth  by  one  of 
these  onsets  of  the  enemy,  crunching  and  creaking 
against  the  ship's  sides  till  the  masses  ground  them- 
selves to  powder.  Our  vessel  was  trembling  like  an 
ague-fit  under  the  pressure  ;  and  when  s)  pinched  that 
she  could  not  vibrate  any  longer  between  the  driving 
and  the  stationary  fields,  making  a  quick,  liberating 
jump  above  them  that  rattled  the  movables  fore  and 
aft  As  it  wore  on  toward  morning,  the  ice,  now  ten 
inches  thick,  kept  crowding  upon  us  with  increased 
energy ;  and  the  whole  of  the  17th  was  passed  in  a 
succession  of  conflicts  with  it. 

The  18th  began  with  a  nipping  that  promised  more 
of  danger.  The  banks  of  ice  rose  one  above  another 
till  they  reached  the  line  of  our  bulwarks.  This,  too, 
continued  through  the  dav,  sometimes  lulliu"-  for  a 
while  into  comparative  repose,  but  recurring  after  a 
few  minutes  of  partial  intermission.  While  I  was 
watching  this  angry  contest  of  the  ice-tables,  as  they 
clashed  together  in  the  darkness  of  early  dawn,  I  saw 
for  the  first  time  the  luminous  appearance,  which  has 
been  described  by  voyagers  as  attending  the  collision 
of  bergs.  It  was  very  marked ;  as  decided  a  phos- 
phorescence as  that  of  the  fire-fly,  or  the  fox-fire  of  the 
Virginia  meadows. 

Still,  amid  all  the  tumult,  our  drift  was  toward  the 
north.  From  the  bearings  of  the  coast,  badly  obtained 
through  the  fogs,  it  was  quite  evident  that  we  had 
passed  beyond  any  thing  recorded  on  the  charts.  Cape 
Bowden,  Parry's  furthest  headland,  was  at  least  twen- 


DRIFT    TO     TUE    NORTHWARD. 


443 


ty-five  miles  south  of  us;  and  our  old  landmarks,  Cape 
Hotliam  and  Beecliy,  had  entirely  disappeared.  Even 
the  high  blufis  of  Barlow's  Inlet  had  gone.  I  hardly 
know  why  it  was  so,  but  this  inlet  had  some  how  or 
other  been  for  me  an  object  of  special  aversion :  the 
naked  desolation  of  its  frost-bitten  limestone,  the  cav- 
ernous recess  of  its  cliffs,  the  cheerlessness  of  its  dark 
shadows,  had  connected  it,  from  the  first  day  I  saw  it, 
with  some  dimly-remembered  feeling  of  pain.  But 
how  glad  we  should  all  of  us  have  been,  as  we  floated 
along  in  hopeless  isolation,  to  find  a  way  open  to  its 
grim  but  protecting  barriers. 

"  Sejof ember  20.  I  have  been  keeping  the  first  watch, 
and  anxiously  observing  the  ice ;  for  I  am  no  sailor, 
and  in  emergency  can  only  wake  my  comrades.  The 
darkness  is  complete. 

"  We  are  now,  poor  devils !  drifting  northward  again. 
Creatures  of  habit,  those  who  were  anxious  have  for- 
gotten anxiety :  glued  fast  here  in  a  moving  mass,  we 
eat,  and  drink,  and  sleep,  unmindful  of  the  morrow. 
It  is  almost  beyond  a  doubt  that,  if  we  find  our  way 
through  the  contingencies  of  this  Arctic  autumn,  we 
must  spend  our  winter  in  open  sea.  Many  miles  to 
the  south,  Captain  Back  passed  a  memorable  term  of 
vigil  and  exposure.  Here,  however,  I  do  not  antici- 
pate such  encounters  with  drifting  floes  as  are  spoken 
of  in  Hudson's  Bay.  The  centre  of  greatest  cold  is 
too  near  us  and  the  communication  with  open  sea  too 
distant. 

"I  was  in  the  act  of  writing  the  above,  when  a  stari- 
ling  sensation,  resembling  the  spring  of  a  well-di-awn 
bow,  announced  a  fresh  movement.  Running  on  deck, 
I  found  it  blowing  a  furious  gale,  and  the  ice  again  in 
motion.    I  use  the  word  motion  inaccurately.    The 


444 


IN     WELLINGTON    CHANNEL. 


field,  of  which  we  are  a  part,  is  always  in  motion; 
that  is,  drifting  with  wind  or  current.  It  is  only  when 
other  ice  boars  down  a[)on  our  own,  or  our  own  ice  is 
borne  in  against  other  floes,  that  pressure  and  resist- 
ance make  us  conscious  of  motion. 

'*  The  ice  was  again  in  motion.  The  great  expanse 
of  recently-formed  solidity,  already  bristling  with  hum- 
mocks, had  up  to  this  moment  resisted  the  enormous 
incidence  of  a  heavy  gale.  Suddenly,  however,  the 
pressure  increasing  beyond  its  strength,  it  yielded. 
The  twang  of  a  bow-string  is  the  only  thing  I  can 
compare  it  to.  In  a  single  instant  the  brond  field  was 
rent  asunder,  cracked  in  every  conceivaljie  direction, 
tables  ground  against  tables,  and  masses  piled  over 
masses.     The  sea  seemed  to  be  churning  ice. 

"  By  the  time  I  had  yoked  my  neck  in  its  scrape, 
and  got  up  upon  deck,  the  ice  had  piled  up  a  couple 
of  feet  above  our  bulwarks.  In  less  than  another  min- 
ute it  had  toppled  over  again,  and  we  were  floating 
hel^ilessly  in  a  confused  mass  of  broken  fragments. 
Fortunately  the  Rescue  remained  fixed ;  our  haw.ser 
was  fast  to  her  stern,  and  by  it  we  were  brought  side 
by  side  again.  Nigiit  passed  anxiously;  i.  e.,  slept  in 
my  clothes,  and  dreamed  of  being  presented  to  Queen 
Victoria. 

I  am  reluctant  to  burden  my  pages  with  tlie  wild, 
-but  scarcely  varied  incidents  of  our  continued  drift 
through  Wellington  Channel.  We  were  yet  to  be  fiir 
miliarized  with  the  strife  of  the  ice-tables,  now  broken 
up  into  tumbling  masses,  and  piling  themselves  in 
angry  confusion  against  our  sides — now  fixed  in  cha- 
otic disarray  by  the  fields  of  new  ice  that  imbedded 
them  in  a  single  night — again,  perhaps,  opening  in 
treacherous  pools,  only  to  close  round  us  with  a  force 


FIGHTING    THE     ENEMY. 


445 


|i 


that  threatened  to  grind  our  brigs  to  powder.  I  shall 
have  occasion  enough  to  speak  of  these  things  here- 
after. I  give  now  a  few  extracts  from  my  journal; 
some  of  which  may  perhaps  have  interest  of  a  differ- 
ent character,  though  they  cannot  escape  the  sadden- 
mg  monotony  of  the  scenes  that  were  about  us. 

I  begin  with  a  partial  break-up  that  occurred  on  the 
23d. 

^^  Septimher  2^.  How  shall  I  describe  to  you  this 
pressure,  its  fearfulness  and  sublimity !  Nothing  that 
I  have  seen  or  read  of  approaches  it.  The  voices  of 
the  ice  and  the  heavy  swash  of  the  overturned  hum- 
mock-tables  are  at  this  moment  dinning  in  my  ears. 
'AH  hands'  are  on  deck  figliting  our  grim  enemy. 

"  Fourteen  inches  of  solid  ice  thickness,  with  some 
half  dozen  of  snow,  are,  with  the  slow  miiform  advance 
of  a  mighty  propelHng  power,  driving  in  upon  our  ves- 
sel. As  they  strike  her,  the  semi-plastic  mass  is  im- 
pressed with  a  mould  of  her  side,  and  then,  urged  on 
by  the  force  behind,  slides  upward,  and  rises  in  groat 
vertical  tables.  When  these  attain  their  utmost  height, 
still  pressed  on  by  others,  they  topple  over,  and  form 
a  great  embankment  of  fallen  tables.  At  the  same 
time  others  take  a  downward  direction,  and  when 
pushed  on,  as  in  the  other  case,  form  a  similar  pile  un- 
derneath. The  side  on  which  one  or  the  other  of  these 
actions  takes  place  for  the  time,  varies  with  the  direc- 
tion of  the  force,  the  strength  of  the  opposite  or  resist- 
ing side,  the  inclination  of  the  vessel,  and  tlie  weight 
of  the  superincumbent  mounds;  and  as  these  condi- 
tions follow  each  other  in  varying  succession,  the  ves- 
sel becomes  perfectly  imbedded  after  a  little  Avhile  in 
crumbling  and  fractured  ice. 

"Perhaps  no  vessel  has  ever  been  in  this  position 


pif 


1 1 


446 


TRAPPING     FOXES. 


m 


but  our  own.  With  matured  ice,  nothing  of  iron  or 
wood  could  resist  such  pressure.  As  for  the  British 
vessels,  their  size  would  make  it  next  to  impossible 
for  them  to  stand.  Back's  *  Winter'  is  the  only  thing 
I  have  road  of  that  reminds  me  of  our  present  predica- 
ment. No  vessel  has  ever  been  caught  by  winter  in 
these  waters. 

"  We  are  lifted  bodily  eighteen  inches  out  of  water. 
The  hummocks  are  reared  up  around  the  ship,  so  as 
to  rise  in  some  cases  a  couple  of  feet  above  our  bul- 
warks— five  feet  above  our  deck.  They  are  very  often 
ten  and  twelve  feet  high.  All  hands  are  out,  laboring 
with  picks  and  crowbars  to  overturn  the  fragments 
that  threaten  to  overwhelm  us.  Add  to  this  darkness, 
snow,  cold,  and  the  absolute  destitution  of  surrounding 
shores. 

"  September  2G.  The  hummocks  around  us  still  re- 
main witliout  apparent  motion,  heaped  up  like  snow- 
covered  barriers  of  street  rioters.  We  are  wedged  in 
a  huge  mass  of  tables,  completely  out  of  water,  cra- 
dled by  ice.  I  wish  it  would  give  us  an  even  keel. 
We  are  eighteen  inches  higher  on  one  quarter  than 
the  other. 

"  Afar  off,  skipping  from  hummock  to  hummock,  I 
saw  a  black  fox.  Poor  desolate  devil!  what  did  he, 
so  far  from  his  recorded  home,  seven  miles  from  even 
the  naked  snow-hills  of  this  dreary  wilderness  ?  In 
the  ni^ht-time  I  heard  him  bark.  They  set  a  trap  for 
him ;  but  I  secretly  placed  a  bigger  bait  outside,  with- 
out a  snare-loop  or  trigger.  In  the  morning  it  was 
gone,  and  the  dead-fall  had  fallen  upon  no  fox.  How 
the  poor,  hungry  thing  must  have  enjoyed  his  supper! 

Our  position,  at  the  end  of  September,  thanks  to 
the  rapidly  increasing  cold,  gave  promise  of  a  certain 


ig 


FIXED    FOR     THE     WINTER. 


447 


degree  of  security  and  rest.  The  Advance  had  been 
driven,  by  the  superior  momentum  of  the  lloos  that 
pressed  us  on  one  side,  some  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  into  the  mass  of  less  resisting  floes  on  the  other; 
the  Rescue  meanwhile  remaining  stationary ;  and  the 
two  vessels  were  fixed  for  a  time  on  two  adjacent  sides 
of  a  rectangle,  and  close  to  each  other. 

We  felt  that  we  were  fixed  for  the  winter.  Wo  ar- 
ranged our  rude  embankments  of  ice  and  snow  around 
us,  began  to  deposit  our  stores  within  them,  and  got 
out  our  felt  covering  that  was  to  serve  as  our  winter 
roof.  The  temperature  was  severe,  ranging  from  1°  5, 
and  4°  to  -{-  10°  :  but  the  men  worked  with  the  energy 
and  hope  too,  of  pioneer  settlers,  when  building  up 
their  first  home  in  our  Western  forests. 

"  October  1,  Tuesday.  To-day  the  work  of  breaking 
hold  commenced.  The  coal  immediately  under  the 
main  hatch  was  passed  up  in  buckets,  and  some  five 
tons  piled  upon  the  ice.  The  quarter-boats  were  hauled 
about  twenty  pp.ces  from  our  port-bow,  and  the  sails 
covered  and  stacked ;  in  short,  all  hands  were  at  work 
preparing  for  the  winter.  Little  had  we  calculated 
the  caprices  of  Arctic  ice. 

'  About  ten  o'clock  A.  M.  a  large  crack  opened  nearly 
east  and  west,  running  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see, 
sometimes  crossing  the  ice-pools,  and  sometimes  break- 
ing along  the  hummock  ridges.  The  sun  and  moon 
will  be  in  conjunction  on  the  3d;  we  had  notice,  there- 
fore, that  the  spring  tides  are  in  action. 

"  Captain  Griffin  had  been  dispatched  with  Mr.  Lov- 
ell  before  this,  to  establish  on  the  shore  the  site  for  a 
depot  of  provisions :  at  one  o'clock  a  signal  was  made 
to  recall  them.  At  two  P.M.,  seeing  a  seal,  I  ran  out 
upon  the  ice  j  but  losing  him,  was  tempted  to  continue 


448 


Ice   0  p  k  n I n  o  . 


m 


• 


on  about  a  mile  to  the  eastward.  The  Avind,  which 
had  been  from  the  westward  all  the  nxornin^,  now 
ishifted  to  the  southward,  and  the  ice-table.s  bej^an  to 
be  again  in  motion.  The  humming  ofhres  and  up- 
heaving hunnnocks,  together  with  exploding  cracks, 
warned  me  back  to  the  vessel. 

"At  3.20,  while  we  were  at  dinner,  conunenting 
with  some  anxiety  upon  the  condition  of  things  with- 
out, that  immi.st-akable  monitor,  the  ' yountj  jnipp'ns* 
began.  Runing  on  deck,  we  found  a  large  fissure, 
nearly  due  north  and  south,  in  line  with  tlif  Advance. 
A  few  minutes  after,  the  entire  floe  on  our  starboard  side 
was  moving,  and  the  ice  breaking  up  in  every  direction. 

"The  emergency  was  startling  enough.  All  hands 
tnrned  to,  officers  included.  The  poor  land  party,  re- 
turning at  this  moment,  tired  and  dinnerless,  went  to 
work  with  the  rest.  Vreeland  and  myself  worked  like 
horses.  Before  dark,  every  thing  was  on  board  except 
the  coal ;  and  of  this,  such  weie  the  lui wearied  ellbrts 
of  our  crew,  that  we  lost  b'..t  '.  ton  or  two. 

"  October  3.  I  write  at  midnight.  Leaving  the  deck, 
where  1  have  been  tramping  the  cold  out  ol  my  joints, 
I  come  below  to  our  little  cabin.  As  I  open  the  hatch, 
every  thing  seems  bathed  in  dirty  milk.  A  cloud  of 
vapor  gushes  out  at  every  chink,  and,  as  tlie  cold  air 
travels  down,  it  is  seen  condensing  deeper  and  deeper. 
The  thermometer  above  is  at  7°  below  zero. 

"  The  brig  and  the  ice  around  her  are  covered  by  a 
strange  black  obscurity — not  a  mist,  nor  a  haze,  but  a 
peculiar,  w.aving,  palpable,  unnjitural  darkness:  it  is 
the  frost-smoke  of  Arctic  winters.  Its  range  is  very 
low.  Climbing  to  the  yard-arm,  some  thirty  feet  above 
the  deck,  I  looked  o\-er  a  great  horizon  of  black  smoke, 
and  above  me  saw  the  blue  heavens  without  a  blemish. 


«  Octo 

pools ;     t 

siiorerf  lo( 

the  pure 

inkiiiess, . 

wash,  pa.H 

ice.      The 

f*hip,  a  lor 

where  the 

i^ere,  nftt 

( i'o.s.sing,  I 

mocks,  wai 

"A.S  I  V 

down  in  wi 

turpentine  I 

J»  crapy  mi 

"To  .shoe 
tactics  of  „i 
'«  iio  fun,  I 
tionle.s.s  juk 
musket  in  \| 
zero.     But,' 
overgrown 
missed.    Atl 
came  again,  f 
nance  betw 
e.vpre.ssion 
g"iin-murder(| 
one.     God  i 

''Octohfr. 
'"?,  and  th 
c'iink  and  en 
the  mercurj 
What  if  the 


fillOOTINO     SEAL. 


449 


"  October  4.  The  open  pools  cnn  no  longer  bo  called 
pools;  they  nre  great  rivers,  whose  hiiiiuiiock-lined 
shores  louk  dimly  through  the  ha/x.  Contrasted  with 
tiie  pure  white  snow,  their  waters  are  black  even  to 
inkiness,  and  the  silent  tides,  undisturbed  by  rii)ple  or 
Avash,  pass  beneath  a  pasty  f  hn  of  constuntly  Ibiining 
ice.  Tiie  thermometer  is  at  10'^.  Away  I'rom  the 
8hi[),  a  long  way,  I  walked  over  the  older  ice  to  a  spot 
where  the  open  river  was  as  wide  as  the  Delaware. 
Here,  after  some  crevice-jumping  and  tlckly-hender 
crossing,  1  set  myself  behind  a  little  rampart  of  liura- 
niocks,  watching  for  seals. 

"  As  I  watched,  the  smoke,  the  frost-smoke,  came 
down  in  wreaths,  like  the  lambent  tongues  of  burning 
turpentine  seen  without  a  blaze.  I  was  soon  enveloped 
in  crapy  mist. 

"  To  shoot  seal,  one  must  practice  the  p]squimaux 
tactics  of  much  patience  and  complete  inunobility.  It 
is  no  fun,  1  assure  you  after  full  experience,  to  sit  mo- 
tionless and  noiseless  as  a  statue,  with  a  cold  iron 
musket  in  your  hands,  and  the  thermometer  10°  below 
zero.  But.  by-and-by  I  was  rewarded  by  seeing  some 
overgrown  Greenland  calves  come  within  shot.  I 
missed.  After  another  hour  of  cold  expectation,  they 
came  again.  Very  strange  are  tiiese  seal.  A  counte- 
nance between  the  dog  and  the  mild  African  ape — an 
expression  so  like  that  of  humanity,  that  it  makes 
pun-murderers  hesitate.  At  last,  at  long  shot,  I  hit 
one.     God  forgive  me  ! 

"  Odohtr  G,  Sunday.  A  dismal  day;  the  wind  howl- 
ing, and  the  snow,  fine  as  flour,  drifting  into  every 
chink  and  cranny.  The  cold  quite  a  nuisance,  although 
the  mercury  is  up  again  to  -j-G°.  It  is  blowing  a  gale, 
What  if  the  floe^  in  which  we  are  providentially  glued. 


m 


w^ 


1 


lia 


u 


I 


450 


AGAIN    DRIFTING, 


f 


I 


r 


should  take  it  into  its  liead  to  break  off,  and  carry  us 
on  a  cruise  before  the  wind ! 

"  12  Midnight.  They  report  us  adrift.  Wind  a  gale 
from  the  northward  and  westward.  An  odd  cruise 
this!  The  American  expedition  fast  in  a  lump  of  ice 
about  as  big  as  Washington  Square,  and  driving,  like 
the  shanty  on  a  raft,  before  a  howling  gale. 

"  Ociobtr  8.  To-day  seemed  like  a  wave  of  the  liand- 
kerchief  from  our  receding  summer.  Winter  is  in  every 
thing.  Yet  the  skies  came  back  to  us  with  warm  ochres 
and  pinks,  and  the  sun,  albeit  from  a  lowly  altitude, 
shone  out  in  full  brightness.  It  was  a  mockery  of 
warmth,  however,  scarcely  worthy  the  unpretending 
sincerity  of  the  great  planet ;  for  the  mercury,  exposed 
to  the  full  radiiince  of  his  deceitful  glare,  rose  but  two 
degrees  from  -f-T''  to  9°.  In  spite  of  this,  the  day  was 
beautiful  to  remoml)or,  as  a  type  of  the  sort  of  thing 
which  Ave  once  shared  with  the  world  from  which  we 
are  shut  out;  a  parting  picture,  to  think  about  during 
the  long  night.  These  dark  days,  or  rather  the  dark 
day,  will  soon  be  on  us.  The  noon  shadows  of  our 
long  masts  almost  lose  themselves  in  the  distance. 

"A  little  white  fox  was  caught  alive  in  a  trap  this 
morning.  He  was  an  jistute-visaged  little  scamp  ;  and 
although  the  chrins  of  captivity,  made  of  spnn-j'arn 
and  loatiier,  set  hardly  upon  him,  he  could  spare 
abundant  leisure  for  bear  bones  and  snow.  II3  would 
drink  no  water.  Ilis  cry  resemi)led  the  inter-parox- 
ysmal yell  of  a  very  small  boy  un  Icrgoing  spanking. 
The  note  came  with  an  impulsive  vehemence,  tint 
expressed  not  only  fear  and  pain,  but  a  very  tolerable 
spice  of  anger  and  ill-temper. 

"  He  was  soon  reconciled,  however.  TUc  very  next 
day  he  was  tan;^  enough  to  feed  from  the  hand,  and 


TAMING     A     FOX. 


451 


had  lost  all  that  startled  wilJiiess  of  look  which  is  sup- 
posed to  characterize  his  tribe.  He  was  e\idently  un- 
used to  man,  and  without  the  educated  instinct  of 
flight.  Twice,  Avhen  suflered  to  escape  from  the  ves- 
sel, he  was  caught  iu  our  traps  the  same  night.  In- 
deed, the  white  foxes  of  this  region — we  caught  more 
than  thirty  of  them — seemed  to  look  at  us  Avith  more 
curiosity  than  fear.  They  would  come  directly  to  the 
ship's  side ;  and,  though  startled  at  first  when  we  fired 
at  tiiem,  soon  came  back.  They  even  suHercd  us  to 
approach  them  almost  '/ithin  reach  of  the  hand,  ran 
around  us,  as  we  gave  the  halloo,  in  a  narrow  circle, 
but  stopped  as  soon  as  we  Avere  still,  and  stared  us  in- 
quisitively in  the  face.  One  little  fellow,  when  we  let 
him  loose  on  the  ice  after  keeping  liim  prisoner  for  a 
day  or  two.  scampered  back  again  incontinently  to  his 
cubby-hole  on  the  deck.  There  may  be  matter  of  re- 
flection for  the  naturalist  in  this.  Has  tliis  animal  no 
natural  enemy  but  fimine  and  coM  ?  The  foxes  ceased 
to  visit  us  soon  after  this,  owing  probably  to  the  un- 
certain ice  between  us  and  the  shore  :  tliev  are  shrewd 
ice-mnsters. 

We  remained  during  the  rest  of  this  month  ice-cra- 
dled, and  drifting  id)Out  near  the  outlet  oC  Wcdlington 
Channel.  Our  thoughts  turned  irresistibly  to  the 
broad  expanse  of  Lancaster  vSound,  which  lay  wild  and 
ruji-iicd  before  us,  and  to  tlie  increasing'  probii])ility 
iliat  it  was  to  be  our  field  of  trial  during  the  long  dark 
winter— ])erhaps  our  final  home. 

With  this  feeling  came  an  increasing  desire  to  com- 
iniiui'i'.te  with  our  late  associates  of  Union  Bay.  I 
IuhI  volun;eere(l  some  weeks  before  to  make  thistu. > 
t'l'st',  and  had  busied  myself  with  arrangements  to  i-ar- 
!■)'  it  out     The  Rescue's  India-rubber  boat  was  to  car- 

m 


m 


!'     11 


u 


462 


A     PROPOSED     EXCURSION. 


ry  the  party  through  the  leads,  and,  once  at  the  sliore, 
three  men  were  to  press  on  -with  a  light  teat  and  a 
few  days'  provisions.  The  project,  iini)r;icti(.'iil)l<:  per- 
haps from  the  first,  Avas  foiled  for  a  time,  by  a  vexa- 
tious incident.  I  had  made  my  tent  of  lliiii  cotton 
cloth,  so  that  it  weighed,  when  completed,  but  four- 
teen pounds,  soaking  it  thoroughly  in  a  oompo.sition 
of  caoutchouc,  ether,  and  linseed  oil,  the  last  in  quan- 
tity. After  it  was  finished  and  nearly  dried,  I  wrap- 
ped it  up  in  a  dry  covering  of  coarse  muslin,  and  placed 
it  for  the  night  in  a  locked  closet,  at  some  distance 
from  the  cook's  gallej^  where  the  temperature  was  be- 
tween 80°  and  9U°.  In  the  morning  it  was  destroyed. 
The  wrapper  was  there,  retaining  its  form,  and  not 
discolored  ;  but  the  outer  folds  of  the  tent  were  smok- 
ing; and,  as  I  unrolled  it,  fold  after  fold  sliuwcd  more 
and  more  marks  of  combustion,  till  at  the  centre  it 
was  absolutely  charred.  There  was  neither  Ihinie  nor 
spark. 

The  moon  made  its  appearance  on  the  I'lth  of  Oc- 
tober. At  first  it  was  like  a  bonfire,  warming  up  the 
ice  with  a  red  glare  ;  but  afterward,  on  tlie  15th,  when 
it  rose  to  the  height  of  4^^,  it  silvered  the  hummocks 
and  frozen  leads,  and  gave  a  softened  lustre  to  the 
snow,  thrfMigh  which  our  two  little  brigs  stood  out  in 
black  and  solitarv  contrast.  The  stars  s(><'inod  to  liave 
lost  their  twinkle,  and  to  shine  with  concentrated 
brightness  as  if  through  gimlet-holes  in  the  col)alt  can- 
opy. 1'he  frost-smoke  scarcely  left  the  Held  of  view. 
It  generally  hung  hi  wreaths  around  the  hori/on  ;  hut 
it  sometimes  took  eccentric  forms;  and  .juc  niilt.  I 
remember,  it  piled  itself  into  a  column  a'  the  wes<,  a:;  i 
Aquila  flamed  above  it  like  a  tall  beacon-light. 


$ 


The  n 

with  the 

Beeohy  L 

'^S  mass( 

'  f'  us  as 

'  others 

and  the  ( 

sound,  our 

h'^art  of  th 

ol'  a  contin 

"  Novenii 

cradle,  safej 

'"arg'ia  is  g 

"^""G^t  h  ah-ei 

fi"ffin'.^  Bay 

ours  ha^   hr 

"lOhths  ;-;;,,i 

froze  r    .p  >?--. 

Soun.   ;■-,>  ,. 

'lel,  one  .j. 

'>n'^)v  again  \ 

^'m\s\y  varieci 

"On  deck] 

'laze,  land !  . 

we  felt  like 

the  vertical  A 

the  ..    ',r,,  ji 

^"Pe  i--.,  KetfJ 

"There  is  (f 

expedition  i.s 

'^^(•rastosearl 
^'^'^^^  is  an  uglj 


DRIFTING. 


453 


The  month  of  November  found  us  osciUatinr'  still 
with  the  winds  and  currents  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Beechy  Island.     Helpless  as  we  were  among  the  float- 
ng  masses,  we  began  to  look  upon  the  floe  that  car- 
'<d  us  as  a  protecting  barrier  against  the  approaches 
f*,        .  i  others  less  friendly ;  and  as  the  month  advanced, 
and  the  chances  increased  of  our  passing  into  the 
sound,  our  apprehensions  of  being  frozen  up  in  .the 
heart  of  the  ice-pack  gave  place  to  the  opposite  fear 
of  a  continuous  drift. 

^^  November  29.  The  doubt  is  gone.  Our  floe,  ice- 
cradle,  safeguard,  has  been  thrown  round.  Its  eastern 
margin  is  grinding  its  way  to  the  northward,  and  the 
west  is  already  pointing  to  the  south.  Our  bow  is  to 
Bi»ffin\s  Bay,  and  we  are  traveling  toward  it.  So  far, 
ours  has  been  a  mysterious  journeying.  For  two 
months  ;  ..  \  raore,  not  a  sail  has  fluttered  from  our 
frozer  p  >  -  yet  we  have  passed  from  Lancaster 
Souuv  info  '  ■  e  highest  latitude  of  Wellington  Chan- 
nel, one  .i«  -er  attained  before,  and  have  been  borne 
back  again  past  our  point  of  starting,  along  a  capri. 
ciously  varied  line  of  drift. 

"On  deck;  looming  up  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
haze,  land !  so  high  and  close  on  our  port  beam,  that 
we  feU  like  men  under  a  precipice.  We  could  see 
the  vertical  crevices  in  the  limestone,  the  recesses  con- 
trast 1,  -  in  bhick  shadow.  What  land  is  this?  Is  it 
the  '  rri  line  of  Cape  Riley,  or  have  we  reached 
Cape  i;.,  Kotts  if 

"There  is  one  thing  tolerably  certain  :  the  Grinnell 
expedition  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  searched  for  here- 
after as  to  search.  Poor  Sir  John  Franklin !  this  night- 
ilril't  is  an  ugly  omen.  * 


454 


THE    AURORA. 


I 

iv. 


h 


"  Do  yon  remember,  in  the  Spanish  coasting  craft, 
down  abot  ^  <r^elona  and  the  Balearics,  the  queer 
little  picture^  lint  Nicholas  we  used  to  see  pasted 
up  over  the  loci^.i" — a  sort  of  mythic  effigy,  which  the 
owner  looked  upon  pretty  much  as  some  of  our  old 
commodores  do  the  barometer,  a  mysterious  some- 
thing, which  he  sneers  at  in  fair  weather,  but  is  sure, 
in  tjie  strong  faith  of  ignorance,  to  appeal  to  in  foul ! 
Well,  very  much  such  a  Saint  Anthony  have  we  down 
in  the  cabin  here,  staring  us  always  in  the  face.  Not 
a  vermilion-daubed  puerility,  with  a  glory  in  Du^^ch 
leaf  stretching  from  ear  to  ear ;  but  a  good,  genuine, 
hearty  representative  of  English  flesh  and  blood,  a 
mouth  that  speaks  of  strong  energies  as  well  as  a 
kindly  heart,  and  an  eye — the  other  one  is  spoiled  in 
the  lithography — that  looks  stern  will.  Many  a  time 
in  the  night  have  I  discoursed  with  him,  as  he  looked 
out  on  me  from  his  gutta  percha  frame — *  Sir  John 
Franklin ;  presented  by  his  wife ;'  and  sometimes  1 
have  imagined  how  and  where  I  was  yet  to  shake  the 
glorious  old  voyager  by  the  hand.  I  see  him  now 
while  I  am  writing ;  his  face  is  darkened  by  the  lamp- 
smcke  that  serves  us  for  daylight  and  air,  and  he  seems 
almost  disheartened.  So  far  as  help  and  hope  of  it 
are  afloat  in  this  little  vessel.  Sir  John,  well  you  may 
be! 

"It  is  Sunday:  we  have  had  religious  service  as 
usual,  and  after  it  that  relic  of  effete  absurdity,  the 
reading  of  the  *  Rules  and  Regulations,' 

"We  had  the  auiura  about  7  P.M.  The  thermom- 
eter at  —33*^  and  falling ;  barometer,  Aneroid,  30°.  ''^  ■ 

'^December  2.  Drifting  down  the  sound.  Every 
thing  getting  ready  for  the  chance  of  a  hurried  good- 
by  to  our  vessels.     Pork,  and  sugar,  and  bread  put  up 


in  smal] 

knapsacJ 

aminunit 

this  thera 

while  We 

"This  J 

quires  a  n 

dered  that 

"lany  lifctj, 

derstand  U 

^'ith  the  ] 

hashed  bun( 

^ny  stocking 

"4  P.M. 

to  say  we  i 

crack  ahead 

*^ie  grinding 

^as  cut  dow 


A    BREAK-UP. 


455 


in  small  bags  to  fling  on  the  ice.  Every  man  his 
knapsack  and  change  of  clothing.  Arms,  bear-knives, 
ammunition  out  on  deck,  and  sledges  loaded.  Yet 
this  thermometer,  at  —30°,  tells  us  to  stick  to  the  ship 
while  we  can. 

"  This  packing  up  of  one's  carpet-bag  in  a  hurry  re- 
quires a  mighty  discreet  memory.  I  have  often  won- 
dered that  seamen  in  pushing  off  from  a  wreck  left  so 
many  little  wants  unprovided  for ;  but  I  think  I  un- 
derstand it  now.  After  bestowing  away  my  boots, 
with  the  rest  of  a  walking  wardrobe,  in  a  snugly- 
lashed  bundle,  I  discovered  by  accident  that  I  had  left 
my  stockings  behind.  . 

**4  P.M.  Brooks  comes  down  while  we  are  dining 
to  say  we  are  driving  east  like  a  race-horse,  and  a 
crack  ahead :  *  All  hands  on  deck !'  We  had  heard 
the  grindings  last  night,  and  our  floe  in  the  morning 
was  cut  down  to  a  diameter  of  three  hundred  yards: 
we  had  little  to  spare  of  it.  But  the  new  chasm  is 
there,  already  flfteen  feet  wide,  and  about  twenty-five 
paces  from  our  bows,  stretching  across  at  right  angles 
with  the  old  cleft  of  October  the  2d. 

"  Our  floe,  released  from  its  more  bulky  portion,  seems 
to  be  making  rapidly  toward  the  shore.  This,  how- 
ever,  may  be  owing  to  the  separated  mass  having 
an  opposite  motion,  for  the  darkness  is  intense.  Our 
largest  snow-house  is  carried  away ;  the  disconsolate 
little  cupola,  with  its  flag  of  red  bunting,  should  it  sur- 
vive the  winter,  may  puzzle  conjectures  for  our  En- 
glish brethren. 

"Mr.  Griffin  and  myself  walked  through  the  gloom 
to  the  seat  of  hummock  action  abeam  of  the  Rescue. 

The  next  four  days  were  full  of  excitement  and 
anxiety.     One  crack  after  another  passed  across  our 


456 


CRISIS. 


I 


floe,  still  reducing  its  dimensions,  and  at  one  time 
bringing  down  our  vessel  again  to  an  even  keel.  An 
hour  afterward,  the  chasms  would  close  around  us  with 
a  sound  like  escaping  steam.  Again  they  v/ould  open 
under  some  mysterious  influence  ;  a  field  of  ice  from 
two  to  lour  inches  thick  would  cover  them ;  and  then, 
without  an  apparent  change  of  causes,  the  separated 
sides  would  come  together  with  an  explosion  like  a 
mortar,  craunching  the  newly-formed  field,  and  driving 
it  headlong  in  fragments  for  fifty  feet  upon  the  floe  till 
it  piled  against  our  bulwarks.  Every  thing  betokened 
a  crisis.  Sledges,  boats,  packages  of  all  sorts,  were  dis- 
posed in  order:  contingencies  were  met  as  they  ap- 
proached by  new  delegations  of  duty  ;  every  man  was 
at  work,  officer  and  seaman  alike  ;  for  necessity,  when 
it  spares  no  one,  is  essentially  democratic,  even  on  ship- 
board. The  Rescue,  crippled  and  thrown  away  from 
us  to  the  further  side  of  a  chasm,  was  deserted,  and 
her  company  consolidated  with  ours.  Our  own  brig 
groaned  and  quivered  under  the  pressure  against  her 
sides.     I  give  my  diary  for  December  7. 

^^  December  7,  Saturday.  The  danger  which  sur- 
rounds us  is  so  immediate,  that  in  the  bustle  of  prep- 
aration for  emergency  I  could  not  spend  a  moment 
upon  my  journal.  Now  the  little  knapsack  is  made 
up  again,  and  the  blanket  sewed  and  strapped.  The 
little  home  Bible  at  hand,  and  the  ice-clothes  ready 
for  a  j  ump. 


.'  ir> 


D«c.  I. 


l>«c.4. 


"  The  abov 

positions  and 

"  The  ice,  a 

io  clo.se  at  11 

^vas  driven  to 

At  1  P.M.  tliis 

I'lP.M.  lla 

quiescent  whe 

menced  with  a 

irresistible. 

%  journal  c 
noting,  as  it  ill. 
ed  succession  o. 
the  floe,  and  as] 
bration,  it  seem 
on  her  beam-e 
called  out  to  " 
It  occurred  to  oil 
been  put  out,  ai 
would  be  burne(, 
ing  himself  bac 
ftjund  two  perse 
J>een  relieved  fr. 
quietly  seated  i 
quietly  waiting 
nie,"  he  said  ;  " 
the  ice  without 


'lUl 


CRISIS. 


457 


Dec  6. 


Dec. 


"  The  above  is  a  rougli  idea  of  our  last  three  days' 
positions  and  changes. 

"  The  ice,  as  I  have  sketched  it,  December  7,  began 
to  close  at  11  A.M.,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  brig 
was  driA'en  toward  the  open  crack  of  December  4  (f). 
At  1  P.M.  this  closed  on  us  w^ith  fearful  nipping. 

"  1  P.]\I.  Ran  on  deck.  The  ice  was  comparatively 
quiescent  when  I  attempted  to  write ;  but  it  recom- 
menced with  a  steady  pressure,  which  must  soon  f)rove 
irresistible. 

My  journal  does  not  tell  the  story ;  but  it  is  worth 
noting,  as  it  illustrates  the  sedative  effect  of  a  protract- 
ed succession  of  hazards.  Our  brig  had  just  mounted 
the  floe,  and  as  we  stood  on  the  ice  watching  her  vi- 
bration, it  seemed  so  certain  that  she  must  come  over 
on  her  beam-ends,  that  our  old  boatswain,  Brooks, 
called  out  to  "stand  from  under."  At  this  moment 
it  occurred  to  one  of  the  officers  that  the  fires  had  not 
been  put  out,  and  that  the  stores  remaining  on  board 
would  be  burned  by  the  falling  of  the  stoves.  Swing- 
ing  himself  back  to  the  deck,  and  rushing  below,  he 
found  two  persons  in  the  cabin ;  the  officer  who  had 
been  relieved  from  watch-duty  a  few  minutes  before, 
quietly  seated  at  the  mess-table,  and  the  steward  as 
quietly  waiting  on  him.  "  You  are  a  meal  ahead  of 
me,"  he  said  ;  *'  you  didn't  think  I  was  going  out  upon 
the  ice  without  my  dinner."  , 


ii  -i 


3   •  ': 


a 


um 


ir.! 


'  i\ 


i\   i\ 


n 


458 


A  RACE  OF  PALE  PACES. 


ii 


'^December  21,  Saturday.  To-day  at  noon  we  saw, 
dimly  looming  up  from  the  redness  of  the  southern 
horizon,  a  low  range  of  hills ;  among  them  some  cones 
of  great  height,  mountains  of  a  character  differing  from 
the  naked  tahle-lands  of  the  northern  coast.  The  land 
on  the  other  side  of  Croker's  Bay,  with  one  high  head- 
land,  supposed  to  be  Cape  "VVarrender,  is  in  view. 
From  all  of  which  it  is  clear  that  we  are  drifting  reg. 
ularly  on  toward  Baffin's  Bay. 

"An  opening  occurred  last  night  in  the  ice  to  the 
northward.  It  is  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  from 
us,  and  it  is  already  seventy  wide. 

"  Our  men  aie  hard  at  work  preparing  for  the  Christ- 
mas theatre,  the  arrangements  exclusively  their  own. 
But  to-morrow  is  a  day  more  welcome  than  Christmas 
— the  solstitial  day  of  greatest  darkness,  from  which 
we  may  begin  to  date  our  returning  light.  It  makes 
a  man  feel  badly  to  see  the  faces  around  him  bleach- 
ing into  waxen  paleness.  Until  to-day,  as  a  looking- 
glass  does  not  enter  into  an  Arctic  toilet,  I  thought  I 
was  the  exception,  and  out  of  delicacy  said  nothing 
about  it  to  my  comrades.  One  of  them,  introducing 
the  topic  j  ust  now,  told  me,  with  an  utter  unconscious- 
ness of  his  own  ghostliness,  that  I  was  the  palest  of 
the  party.  So  it  is,  *  All  men  think  all  men,'  kc. 
Why,  the  good  fellow  is  as  white  as  a  cut  potato !" 

In  truth,  we  were  all  of  us  at  this  time  undergoing 
changes  unconsciously.  The  hazy  obscurity  of  the 
nights  we  had  gone  through  made  them  darker  than 
the  corresponding  nights  of  Parry.  The  complexions 
of  my  comrades,  and  my  own  too,  as  I  found  soon  after- 
ward, were  toned  down  to  a  peculiar  waxy  paleness. 
Our  eyes  were  more  recessed,  and  strangely  clear. 
Complaints  of  shortness  of  breath  became  gen'?iii.l. 


THE     MIDNIGHT     OF     THE     YEAR, 


459 


"December  22,  Sunday.  The  solstice  ! — the  midnight 
of  the  year  !  It  commences  with  a  now  movement  in 
the  ice,  the  open  lead  of  yesterday  piling  up  into  hum- 
mocks on  our  port-beam.     No  harm  done. 

"The  wind  is  from  the  west,  increasing  in  fresh- 
ness  since  early  in  the  morning.  The  weather  over- 
cast ;  even  the  moon  unseen,  and  no  indications  of  our 
drift.  We  could  not  read  print,  not  even  large  news- 
paper type,  at  noonday.  We  have  been  unable  to  leave 
the  ship  unarmed  for  some  time  on  account  of  the 
bears.  We  remember  the  story  of  poor  Barentz,  one 
of  our  early  predecessors.  One  of  our  crew,  Blinn,  a 
phlegmatic  Dutchman,  walked  out  to-day  toward  the 
lead,  a  few  hundred  yards  oif,  in  search  of  a  seal-hole. 
Suddenly  a  seal  rose  close  by  him  in  the  sludge-ice : 
he  raised  his  gun  to  fire  ;  and,  at  the  same  instant,  a 
large  bear  jumped  over  the  floe,  and  by  a  dive  followed 
the  seal.  Blinn's  musket  snapped.  He  was  glad  fa 
get  on  board  again. 

^^ December  25.  *Y'  Christmas  of  jr*  Arctic  cruisers!' 
Our  Christmas  passed  without  a  lack  of  the  good  things 
of  this  lile.  *  Goodies'  we  had  galore  ;  but  that  best 
of  earthly  blessings,  the  communion  of  loved  sympa- 
thies, these  Arctic  cruisers  had  not.  It  was  curious  to 
observe  tlie  depressing  influences  of  each  man's  home 
thoughts,  and  absolutely  saddening  the  effort  of  each 
man  to  impose  upon  his  neighbor  and  be  very  boon  and 
jolly.  We  joked  incessantly,  but  badly,  and  laughed 
incessantly,  but  badly  too ;  ate  of  good  things,  and 
drank  up  a  moiety  of  our  Heidsiek  ;  and  then  we  sang 
negro  songs,  wanting  only  tune,  measure,  and  harmony, 
but  abounding  in  noise ;  and  after  a  closing  bumper 
to  Mr.  Grinnell,  adjourned  with  creditable  jollity  from 
table  to  the  theatre.         >  j  .      .    •      .     .         a 


^ 

PI  r 

B.I 

1? 

t; 

■ 

\ 

SM 

f 

ii 

l:\  * 


f  ,' 


i.y-i 


;'  "'« 


I 


Mi 


460 


CHRISTMAS    FROLICS. 


.  ;' 


I 


"It  was  on  deck,  of  course,  but  veiled  from  the  sky 
^  by  our  felt  covering.  A  large  ship's  ensign,  stretched 
from  the  caboose  to  the  bulwarks,  was  understood  to 
hide  the  stuge,  and  certain  meat-casks  and  candle- 
boxes  represented  the  parquet.  The  thermometei' 
gave  us  —6°  at  first;  but  the  favoring  elements  soon 
changed  this  to  the  more  comfortable  temperature  of 
-4°. 

"Never  had  I  enjoyed  the  tawdry  qnackery  of  the 
stage  half  so  much.  The  theatre  has  always  been  to 
me  a  wretched  simulation  of  realities  ;  and  I  have  too 
little  sympathy  with  the  unreal  to  find  pleasure  in  it 
long.  Not  so  our  Arctic  theatre  :  it  was  one  continual 
frolic  from  beginning  to  end. 

:  "  The  '  Blue  Devils  :'  God  bless  us !  but  it  was  very, 
very  funny.  None  knew  their  parts,  and  the  prompter 
could  not  read  glibly  enough  to  do  his  office.  Every 
thing,  whether  jocose,  or  indignant,  or  commonplace, 
or  pathetic,  was  delivered  in  a  high-tragedy  monotone 
of  despair  ;  five  words  at  a  time,  or  more  or  less,  ac- 
cording to  the  facilities  of  the  prompting.  Megrim, 
with  a  pair  of  seal-skin  boots,  bestowed  his  gold  upon 
the  gentle  Annette ;  and  Annette,  nearly  six  feet  high, 
received  it  with  mastodonio  grace.  Annette  was  an 
Irishman  named  Daly ;  and  I  might  defy  liuman  be- 
ing to  hear  her,  while  balanced  on  the  heel  ol'  her  boot, 
exclaim,  in  rich  masculine  brogue,  *  Och,  feather !'  with- 
out roaring.  Bruce  took  the  Landlord,  Benson  was 
James,  and  the  gentle  Annette  and  the  wealthy  Me- 
grim were  taken  by  Messrs.  Daly  and  Johnson. 

"After  this  followed  the  Star  Spangled  Banner;  then 
a  complicated  Marseillaise  by  our  French  cook,  Hen- 
ri ;  then  a  sailor's  hornpipe  by  the  diversely-talented 
Bruce  ;  the  orchestra — Stewart,  playing  out  the  inter- 


vals on  tin 
fact,  we  V 
foot-race  in 
purses  of  a 

inain-bruce, 
feebly  throi 
"  But  eve 
gifting  was 
stocking  ajj 
»  piece  of  C 
qucst—a  Je^ 
other  hand,  J 
bottles  of  Cc 
*Jon.  So  p 
mum,  -iQo . 

"J^ecemder  : 

rejoice  at  the 

taken  convinc( 

Tenting  upon  a 

continued  influ 

perature  and  ft 

tarus  can  not  1 

t|utytourgea« 
the  dry  heat  of 
of  them  uninte 
^e«bJe.     Thesh 
f  our  officers  e 
inend  Loveli,  oi 
«';t^o".     Thesy 
still  increasing, 
^'■e  glowing  paj 
^cejuJing-  a  Judl 
!fe"is  to  be  crel 
^ear,  dear  sun, 


THE    DRIFT. 


461 


' 


vals  on  the  Jews-harp  from  the  top  of  a  hird-cask.  In 
fact,  we  were  very  happy  fellows.  We  had  had  a 
foot-race  in  the  morning  over  the  midnight  ice  for  three 
purses  of  a  flannel  shirt  each,  and  a  splicing  of  the 
main-brace.  The  day  was  night,  the  stars  shining 
feebly  through  the  mist. 

"  But  even  here  that  kindly  custom  of  Christmas- 
gifting  was  not  forgotten.  I  found  in  my  morning 
stocking  a  jack-knife,  symbolical  of  my  altered  looks, 
a  piece  of  Castile  soap — this  last  article  in  great  re- 
quest— a  Jews-harp,  and  a  string  of  beads!  On  the 
other  hand,  I  prescribed  from  the  medical  stores  two 
bottles  of  Cognac,  to  protect  the  mess  from  indiges- 
tion. So  passed  Christmas.  Thermometer,  mini- 
mum, —  16°;  maximum,  -7°.     Wind  west. 

"Dece7nber  28,  Saturday.   From  my  very  soul  do  I 
rejoice  at  the  coming  sun.     Evidences  not  to  be  mis- 
taken convince  me  that  the  health  of  our  crew,  never 
resting  upon  a  very  sound  basis,  must  sink  under  the 
continued  influences  of  darkness  and  cold.     The  tem- 
perature  and  foulness  of  air  in  the  between-deck  Tar- 
tarus can  not  be  amended,  otherwise  it  would  be  my 
duty  to  urge  a  change.     Between  the  smoke  of  lamps, 
the  dry  heat  of  stoves,  and  the  fumes  of  the  galley,  all 
of  them  unintermitting,  what  wonder  that  we  grow 
feeble.     The  short  race  of  Christmas-day  knocked  up 
all  our  officers  except  Griffin.     It  pained  me  to  see  my 
friend  Lovell,  our  strongest  man,  fainting  with  the  ex- 
ertion.    The  symptoms  of  scurvy  among  the  crew  are 
still  increasing,  and  becoming  more'  general.     Faces 
are  growing  pale;  strojig  men  pant  for  breath  upon 
ascending  a  ladder  ;  and  an  indolence  akin  to  apathy 
seems  to  be  creeping  over  us.     I  long  for  the  light. 
Dear,  dear  sun,  no  wonder  you  are  worshiped ! 


]■! 


■  'n 


mm 


"'*M 


J  1p1 


1 


462 


RETURNING    LIGHT. 


"  11.  Can  read  ordinary  over-sized  print.  Started 
on  a  walk,  the  first  time  for  twenty-odd  days.  SaAv 
the  groat  load,  and  traveled  it  for  a  couple  of  miles 
exj)andiii<j  into  a  plain  of  recent  ice. 

"]\I.  Passed  noon  on  the  ice.  Can  read  diamond 
typo.  Stars  of  the  first  magnitude  only  visible.  Sat- 
urn  magnificent ! 

"1  r.lNI.  With  difficulty  read  large  type.  The 
clouds  gathering  in  black  stratus  over  the  red  light 
to  the  south. 

"  2.  The  heavens  studded  with  stars  in  their  group- 
ingfj.  Night  is  again  over  every  thing,  although  the 
minor  stars  are  not  yet  seen. 

"Since  the  first  of  this  month,  we  have  drifted  in 
solitude  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  skirting  the 
nortliorn  shores  of  Lancaster  Sound.  Baffin's  Bay  is 
ahfjid  of  lis,  its  current  setting  strong  toward  the  south. 
"What  will  be  the  result  when  the  mighty  masses  of 
these  two  Arctic  seas  come  together !" 

lS51,Jam(art/  1,  Wednesday.  The  first  day  of  1851 
set  in  cold,  the  thermometer  at  —28°,  and  closing  at 
—31°.  We  celebrated  it  by  an  extra  dinner,  a  plum- 
cak'^  Tinfrostod  for  the  occasion,  and  a  couple  of  our  re- 
siduary bottles  of  wine.  But  there  was  no  joy  in  our 
merriment :  we  were  weary  of  the  night,  as  those  who 
watch  for  the  morning. 

It  was  not  till  the  3d  that  the  red  southern  zone 
continued  long  enough  to  give  us  assurance  of  advanc- 
ing day.  Then,  for  at  least  three  hours,  the  twilight 
enabled  us  to  walk  without  stumbling.  I  had  a  feel- 
ing of  racy  enjoyment  as  I  found  myself  once  more 
away  from  the  ship,  ranging  among  the  floes,  and 
watching  the  rivalry  of  day  with  night  in  the  zenith. 
There  was  the  sunward  horizon,  with  its  evenly-dis- 


EiailTH    OF    JANUARY- 


463 


tributed  bands  of  primitive  colors,  blending  softly  into 
the  clear  blue  overhead  ;  and  then,  by  an  almost  magio 
transition,  night  occupying  the  western  sky.  Stars 
of  the  first  magnitude,  and  a  wandering  planet  here 
and  there,  shone  dimly  near  the  debatable  line ;  but 
a  little  further  on  were  all  the  stars  in  their  glory. 
The  northern  firmament  had  the  familiar  beauty  of  a 
pure  winter  night  at  home.  The  Pleiades  glittered 
"  like  a  swarm  of  fire-flies  tangled  in  a  silver-braid," 
and  the  great  stars  that  hang  about  the  heads  of  Orion 
and  Taurus  were  as  intensely  bright  as  if  day  was  not 
looking  out  upon  them  from  the  other  quarter  of  the 
sky.  1  had  never  seen  night  and  day  dividing  the 
hemisphere  so  beautifully  between  them. 

On  the  8th  we  had,  of  course,  our  national  festivi- 
ties, and  remembered  freshly  the  hero  who  consecrated 
the  day  in  our  annals.  The  evening  brought  the  the- 
atricals again,  with  extempore  interludes,  and  a  hearty 
splicing  of  the  main-brace.  It  was  something  new, 
and  not  thoroughly  gladsome,  this  commemoration  of 
the  victory  at  New  Orleans  under  a  Polar  sky.  *  There 
were  men  not  two  hundred  miles  from  us,  now  our 
partners  in  a  nobler  contest,  who  had  bled  in  this  very 
battle.  But  we  made  the  best  of  the  occasion  ;  and 
if  others  some  degrees  further  to  the  south  celebrated 
it  more  warmly,  we  had  the  thermometer  on  our  side, 
with  its  -20°,  a  normal  temperature  for  the  "  lauda- 
tur  et  alget." 

But  the  sun  was  now  gradually  coming  up  toward 
the  horizon :  every  day  at  meridian,  and  for  an  hour 
before  and  after,  we  were  able  to  trace  our  progress 
eastward  by  some  known  headland.  "We  had  passed 
Cape  Castlereagh  and  Cape  Warrender  in  succession, 
and  were  close  on  the  meridian  of  Cape  Osborn.     The 


m 


1  ^ 


..s. 


46i 


OUR    FLOE. 


disruptions  of  the  ice  which  we  had  encountered  so 
iar,  had  always  been  at  the  periods  of  spring-tide.  The 
sun  and  moon  were  in  conjunction  on  tlie  21st  of  De- 
cember ;  and,  adopting  Captain  Parry's  observation, 
that  the  greatest  etfiux  was  always  within  five  days 
■?fter  the  new  moon,  we  had  looked  with  some  anxiety 
to  the  closing  weeks  of  that  month.  But  tbey  had 
gone  by  without  any  unusual  movement;  and  there 
needed  oidy  an  equally  kind  visitation  of  the  January 
mooi:  to  give  us  our  final  struggle  with  the  Baffin's 
Bay  ice  by  daylight. 

Yet  I  had  remarked  that  the  southern  shore  of  Lan- 
caster Sound  extended  much  further  out  to  the  east- 
ward than  the  northern  did  ;  and  I  had  argued  that 
we  might  begin  to  feel  the  current  of  Baffin's  Bay  in 
a  vpry  few  days,  though  we  were  still  considerably 
t..  tlie  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  one  cape  to  the  other. 
The  question  received  its  solution  without  waiting  for 
the  moon. 

I  give  from  my  journal  our  position  in  the  ice  on  the 
11th  of 'January : 

^^ January  11,  Saturday.  The  floe  in  which  we  are 
now  imbedded  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  solid- 
ity for  more  than  a  month.  Since  the  8th  of  Decem- 
ber, not  a  fracture  or  collision  has  occurred  to  mar  its 
growth.  The  eye  can  not  embrace  its  extent.  Even 
from  the  mast-head  you  look  over  an  unbour.uo'l  ex- 
panse of  naked  ice,  bristling  with  contorted  spires,  and 
ridged  by  elevated  axes  of  hummocks.  The  land  on 
either  side  rises  above  our  icy  horizon  ;  but  to  the  eai^ 
and  west,  there  is  no  such  interception  to  our  wiutery- 
uess. 

"The  brig  remains  as  she  was  tossed  at  our  provi. 
dential  escape  of  last  month,  her  nose  burrowing  in  the 


■,_  ■-*   -^  ft     * 

THE   ADVANCE    I.N    KEUKLAKY. 


niil  .11 


1  m 


n\4  \\ 


10 


WIMKH    l^    Tilt   I'At'K. 


|. 


11: 


'<,:. 


1 


!  u 


snow,  and 
Walking  d^ 
tains,  too,  hi 
been  bankij 
warmth,  and 
admits  us  t\ 
stores,  hastil 
expected  he| 
remnant  of  > 
Rescue  is  sol 
The  next 
morning  was 
to  make  out 
westerly,  as  i 
hops  to  a  hre 
when  a  sudd 
Running  out 
opened  betwc 
in  a  zigzag  c 
to  the  southw 
become  a  clui 
ued  to  widen, 
water  about 
into  a  broad  s 
through  whit 
two  vessels  be 
Night  closed  i 
yards  nnd  st 
bow,  two  hu 
wind  increasi 
My  journa 
intervals ;  bii 
"Januari/  '. 
since  one  o't 


COMMOTION    OF    THE    ICE. 


467 


snow,  and  her  stern  perched  high  ahove  the  ruhbish. 
Walking  deck  is  an  up  and  down  hill  work.     She  re- 
tains,  too,  her  list  to  starboard.     Her  bare  sides  have 
been  banked  over  again  with  snow  to  increase  the 
warmth,  and  a  formidable  flight  of  nine  ice-block  steps 
admits  us  to  the  door- way  of  her  winter  cover.     The 
stores,  hastily  thrown  out  from  the  vessel  when  we 
expected  her  to  go  to  pieces,  are  still  upon  the  little 
remnant  of  old  floe  on  our  port  or  northern  side.     The 
Kescue  is  some  hundred  yards  otf  to  the  south  of  east." 
The  next  day  things  underwent  a  change.     The 
morning  was  a  misty  one,  giving  us  just  light  enough 
to  make  out  objects  that  were  near  the  ship ;  the  wind 
westerly,  as  it  had  been  for  some  time,  freshening  \ 
haps  to  a  breeze.     The  day  went  on  quietly  till  noon, 
when  a  sudden  shock  brought  us  all  up  to  the  deck. 
Running  out  upon  the  ice,  we  found  that  a  crack  had 
opened  between  us  and  the  Rescue,  and  was  extending 
in  a  zigzag  course  from  the  northward  and  eastward 
to  the  southward  and  westward.    At  one  o'clock  it  had 
become  a  chasm  eight  feet  in  width  ;  and  as  it  contin- 
ued to  widen,  we  observed  a  distinct  undulation  of  the 
water  about  its  edges.     At  three,  it  had  expanded 
into  a  broad  sheet  of  water,  filmed  over  by  young  ice, 
through  which  the  portions  of  the  floe  that  bore  our 
two  vessels  began  to  move  obliquely  toward  each  other. 
Night  closed  round  us,  with  the  chasm  reduced  to  forty 
yards  and  still  narrowing;  the   Rescue  on  her  port- 
bow,  two  hundred  yards  from  her  late  position;  the 
wind  increasing,  and  the  thermometer  at  —19°. 

My  journal  for  the  next  day  was  written  at  broken 
intervals  ;  but  I  give  it  without  ch.Mige  of  form: 

"Janttari/  13,  4  A.M.  All  hands  have  been  on  deck 
since  one  o'clock,  strapped  and  harnessed  for  a  fare- 


*;5 


■♦.Vk' 


4G8 


COMMOTION    OF    THE    ICE. 


well  march.  The  water-lane  of  yesterday  is  covered 
by  Ibur-inch  ice  ;  the  floes  at  its  margin  more  than 
three  feet  thick.  These  have  been  closing  for  some 
time  by  a  sliding,  grinding  movement,  one  upon  the 
other ;  but  every  now  and  then  coming  together  more 
directly,  the  thinner  ice  clattering  between  them,  and 
marking  their  new  outline  with  hummock  ridges. 
They  have  been  fairly  in  contact  for  the  last  hour :  we 
fee'  their  pressure  extending  to  us  through  the  elastic 
floe  in  which  we  are  cradled.  There  is  a  quivering, 
vibratory  hum  about  the  timbers  of  the  brig,  and  ev- 
ery now  and  then  a  harsh  rubbing  creak  along  her 
sides,  like  waxed  cork  on  a  mahogany  table.  The 
hummocks  are  driven  to  within  four  feet  of  our  coun- 
ter,  and  stand  there  looming  fourteen  feet  high  through 
tho  darkness.  It  has  been  a  horrible  commotion  so 
fi-r,  with  one  wild,  booming,  agonized  note,  ir.ade  up 
of  a  thousand  discords ;  and  now  comes  the  deep  still- 
nt'ss  after  it,  the  mysterious  ice-pulse,  as  if  the  ener- 
gies were  gathering  lor  another  strife. 

"  Ci  A.M.  Another  pulse !  the  vibration  greater  than 
•we  have  ever  yet  liad  it.  If  our  little  brig  had  an  an- 
imated centre  of  sensation,  and  some  rude  force  had 
torn  a  nerve-trunk,  she  could  not  feel  it  more — she 
fa.rly  shudders.  Looking  out  to  the  north,  this  ice 
eeems  to  heave  up  slowly  against  the  sky  in  black 
hills ;  and  as  we  watch  them  rolling  toward  us,  the 
hills  sink  again,  and  a  distorted  plain  o.  ;ubbish  luelts 
before  us  into  the  night.  Ours  is  the  contrast  of  ut- 
ter helplessness  witli  illimitable  power. 

"  9.50  A.M.  Brooks  and  myself  ti'ok  advantage  of 
the  twilight  at  nine  o'clock  to  cross  the  hununocky 
fields  to  tiie  Rescue.  I  can  not  convey  an  ini])iossion 
of  the  altered  aspects  of  the  floe.     Our  frozen  lane  has 


disappeare 

ice  is  Jieuf 

rubbish,  oJ 

decks  of  t 

spoke  sad  J  J 

seen  in  eve 

hatclivvay, 

ffood-foJJow! 

the  snow  cr 

"  The  Rei 

how  and  fon 

iier  advejitu] 

forced  up,  br 

't'e,  after  nipj 

tKree  I'oot  abc 

as  our  first  a; 

question  now 

^»y  action  th 

<io\vn  or  cru.sl 

"The  ice  iu 

i»to  small  ai] 

iig-uin.st  a  crag] 

^^■i<li  its  reservl 

^''des,  memorial 

pliances  and  n| 

'-"■J'ied  a^vay  b| 

fie  boar  is  ilo\ 

"e;";'y  hajfani 

"TJie  thenni 

''t  ^j'uos  so  VOlJ 

''«'^'-  five  men' 
(^ur  stores. 

"  y  1M\I.  M\\ 
^"i^'e  lialf  past 


ICE    COMMOTION. 


4G9 


disappeared,  and  along  the  line  of  its  recent  course  the 
ice  is  lieaped  up  in  blocks,  tables,  lumps,  powder,  and 
rubbish,  often  fifteen  feet  high.  Snow  covered  the 
decks  of  the  little  vessel,  and  the  disorder  about  it 
spoke  sadly  of  desertion.  Foot-prints  of  foxes  were 
seen  in  every  imaginable  corner;  and  near  the  little 
hatchway,  where  we  had  often  sat  in  comfortable 
good-fellowship,  the  tracks  of  a  large  bear  had  broken 
the  snow  crust  in  his  efforts  to  get  below. 

"  The  Rescue  has  met  the  pressure  upon  her  port- 
bow  and  fore-foot.  Her  bowsprit,  already  maimed  by 
her  adventure  off  Grifiith's  Island,  is  now  completely 
forced  up,  broken  short  off  at  the  gammoning.  The 
ice,  after  nipping  her  severely,  has  piled  up  round  her 
tlLice  feet  above  the  bulwarks.  We  had  looked  to  her 
as  our  first  asylum  of  retreat;  but  that  is  out  of  the 
question  now;  she  can  not  rise  as  we  have  done,  and 
any  action  that  would  peril  us  again  must  bear  her 
down  or  crush  her  laterally. 

"The  ice  immediately  about  the  Advance  is  broken 
into  small  anguhir  pieces,  as  if  it  liad  been  dushed 
against  a  crag  of  granite.  Our  camp  out  on  the  iloe, 
with  its  reserve  of  provisions  and  a  hundred  things  be- 
sides, memorials  of  scenes  we  haA-e  gone  through,  or  ap- 
phances  and  means  lor  hazards  ahead  of  us,  has  been 
carried  away  bodily.  My  noble  specimen  of  the  Arc- 
tic bear  is  floating,  with  an  escort  of  bread  barrels, 
nearly  half  a  mile  olf. 

"The  thermometer  records  only  -17°  ;  but  it  blows 
at  times  so  very  fiercely  that  I  have  never  felt  it  so 
cold :  five  men  were  frost-bilten  in  the  attempt  to  save 
our  stores. 

"  9  P.M.  AVe  have  had  no  renewal  of  the  pressure 

mce  half  past  six  this  morning.     AVe  are  turning  in; 

28 


[III] 


470 


ICE     COMMOTION. 


I 


] 


the  wind  blowing  a  fresh  breeze,  weather  misty,  ther. 
mometer  at  —23°." 

The  night  brought  no  further  change ;  but  toward 
morning  the  cracks,  that  formed  before  this  a  sort  of 
net- work  all  about  the  vessel,  began  to  open.  The 
cause  was  not  apparent :  the  wind  had  lulled,  and  we 
saw  no  movement  of  the  floes.  We  had  again  the 
same  voices  of  complaint  from  the  ship,  but  they  were 
much  feebler  than  yesterday;  and  in  about  an  hoar 
the  ice  broke  up  all  round  her,  leaving  an  open  space 
of  about  a  foot  to  port,  indented  with  the  mould  of  her 
form.  The  brig  was  loose  once  more  at  the  sides ;  but 
she  remained  suspended  by  the  bows  and  stern  from 
hummocks  built  up  like  trestles,  and  canted  forward 
still  five  feet  ami  a  quarter  out  of  level.  Every  thing 
else  was  fairly  afloat:  even  the  India-rubber  boat, 
which  during  our  troubles  had  found  a  resting-place 
on  a  sound  projection  of  the  floe  close  by  us,  had  to 
be  taken  in. 

This,  I  may  say,  was  a  fearful  position ;  but  the 
thermometer,  at  a  mean  of  —  23°  and  —  24°,  soon 
brought  back  the  solid  character  of  our  floating  raft. 
In  less  than  two  days  every  thing  about  us  was  as 
firmly  fixed  as  ever.  But  the  whole  topography  of  the 
ice  was  changed,  and  its  new  configuration  attested 
the  violence  of  the  elements  it  had  been  exposed  to. 
Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  completely  embodying 
inhospitable  desolation.  From  mast-head  the  eye  trav- 
eled wearily  over  a  broad  champaigne  of  undulating 
ice,  crowned  at  its  ridges  with  broken  masses,  like 
breakers  frozen  as  they  rolled  toward  the  beach.  Be- 
yond these,  you  lost  by  degrees  the  distinctions  of  sur- 
face. It  was  a  great  plain,  blotched  by  dark,  jagged 
shadows,  and  relieved  only  here  and  there  by  a  hill 


rCE     COMMOTION. 


471 


of  upheaved  rnbbish.  Still  further  in  the  distance 
came  an  unvarying  uniformity  of  shade,  cutting  with 
.5a\\'-toothed  edge  against  a  desolate  sky. 

Yet  there  needed  no  after-surA^ey  of  the  ice-field  to 
prove  to  us  what  majestic  forces  had  been  at  work 
upon  it.  At  one  time  on  the  13th,  the  hummock- 
ridge  astern  advanced  Avith  a  steady  march  upon  the 
A'cssel.  Twice  it  rested,  and  advanced  again — a  dense 
wall  of  ice,  thirty  feet  broad  at  the  base  and  twelve 
feet  high,  tumbling  huge  fragments  from  its  crest,  yet 
incM'easing  in  mass  at  each  new  effort.  We  had  ceased 
to  hope ;  when  a  merciful  interposition  arrested  it,  so 
close  against  our  counter  that  there  was  scarcely  room 
for  a  man  to  pass  between.  Haifa  minute  of  progress 
more,  and  it  would  have  buried  us  all.  As  we  drifted 
along  five  months  afterward,  this  stupendous  memento 
of  controlling  power  was  still  hnnging  over  our  stern. 

AVe  had  lost  all  indications  of  a  shore,  and  had  ob- 
viously passed  within  the  influences  of  Baffin's  Bay. 
Wo  were  on  the  meridian  of  I'j'^;  yet,  though  the  re- 
cent commotions  could  be  referred  to  nothing  else  but 
the  conflict  of  the  two  currents,  we  had  made  very 
little  southing,  if  any,  and  had  seen  no  bergs.  But  on 
the  14th  the  wind  edged  round  a  little  more  to  the 
northward,  and  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
loth  we  could  hear  a  squeexing  iioise  among  tlie  icc- 
ficKls  in  that  direction.  By  this  time  we  had  become 
learned  interpreters  of  the  ice- voices.  Of  course,  we 
renewed  our  preparations  for  whatever  might  be  com- 
ing. Every  man  arranged  his  knapsack  and  blanket- 
bag  over  again  with  the  practiced  discretion  of  an  ex- 
pert. Our  extra  clothing  sledge,  carefully  repacked, 
was  made  free  on  deck.  The  India-rubber  boat,  only 
useful  in  this  solid  waste  for  crossing  occasional  chasms, 
was  launched  out  upon  the  ice  for  the  third  time. 


472 


THE     DOG-STAR, 


The  appearances  which  heralded  the  sun's  return 
had  a  degree  of  interest  for  us  which  it  is  not  easy  to 
express  in  words.  I  have  referred  more  than  once  al- 
ready  to  the  effects  of  the  long-continued  night  on  the 
health  of  our  crowded  ship's  company.  It  was  even 
more  painful  to  notice  its  influence  on  their  temper  und 
spirits.  Among  the  officers  this  was  less  observable. 
Our  mess  seemed  determined,  come  what  might,  to 
maintain  toward  each  other  that  honest  courtesy  of 
manner,  which  those  who  have  sailed  on  long  voyages 
together  know  to  be  the  rarest  and  most  difficult  proof 
of  mutual  respect.  There  were  of  course  seasons 
when  each  had  his  home  thoughts,  and  revolved  per- 
haps the  growing  probabilities  that  some  other  Arctic 
search  party  might  seek  in  vain  hereafter  for  a  memo- 
rial of  our  own ;  yet  these  were  never  topics  of  con- 
versation. I  do  not  remember  to  have  been  saddened 
by  a  boding  word  during  all  the  trials  of  our  cruise. 

With  the  men,  however,  it  was  dilferent.  More  de- 
ficientin  the  resources  of  education,  and  less  restrained 
by  conventional  usages  or  the  principle  of  honor  IVom 
communicating  to  each  other  what  they  felt,  all  sym- 
pathized in  the  imaginary  terrors  which  each  one  con- 
jured up. 

We  were  called  up  one  CA'ening  by  the  deck- watch 
to  see  for  ourselves  a  "  ball  of  fire  floating  up  and  down 
above  the  ice-field."  It  was  there  sure  enough,  a  disk 
of  reddish  flame,  varying  a  little  in  its  outline,  and 
flickering  in  the  horizon  like  a  revolving  light  at  a  dis- 
tance. I  was  at  first  as  much  puzzled  as  the  men; 
but  ghmcing  at  Orion,  I  soon  saw  that  it  was  nothing 
else  than  our  old  dog-star  friend,  bright  Sirius,  cunie 
back  to  us.  Itefraction  had  raised  him  above  the  hills, 
so  as  to  bring  him  to  view  a  little  sooner  than  we  ex- 
pected.    His  color  was  rather  more  lurid  than  when 


ie  left  u 

^^ne,  seei 

^^orizontt 

ofthoiaj 

i^or  sot 

changing 

^'e/i/ietl,  tl 

as  Weil  as 

iines  ofstn 

longed-for ; 

%  journaj 

*'ic!  hazard 

*^iiit  they  si 

t^ifiJi  twelve 

tJiis  morning 
^viioJe  vault" 
f-^'^'^Pt  Cape, 
^ionzon  wa.s 
''^^''^^r  an  abse 
^•'"S'Gd  on  boj 
clieers  for  a  r 
^i'e  saJJow-vi3 
.^^''''-  ti'e  ice ;, 

'''*'''  J»e  In,  oj 

^'<^'«  fti«hion,  I  J 

^'"'•"s  of  the  el 

^^''"•<'  ^iie  no  A 

yi^''  the  thenl 

t'iereibre,  to  k 

^'"^^'"-  Ithoul 
01"-  WiWe  eircjJ 
'^"f  dear,  bri^rh^ 


APPROACH    OF    DAY. 


473 


^i 


lie  left  us,  and  the  refraction,  besides  distorting  his  out- 
line,  seemed  to  have  given  him  the  same  oblateness  or 
horizontal  expansion  which  we  observe  in  the  disks 
of  the  larger  phiriets  when  nearing  the  horizon. 

For  some  days  the  sun-clouds  at  the  south  had  been 
changing  their  character.  Their  edges  bepame  better 
defined,  their  extremities  dentated,  their  color  deeper 
as  well  as  warmer;  and  from  the  spaces  between  the 
lines  of  stratus  burst  out  a  blaze  of  glory,  typical  of  the 
longed-for  sun.  He  came  at  last :  it  was  on  the  29th. 
My  journal  must  tell  the  story  of  his  welcoming,  at 
the  hazard  of  its  seeming  extravagance  :  I  am  content 
that  they  shall  criticise  it  who  have  drifted  for  more 
than  twelve  weeks  under  the  night  of  a  Pokir  sky. 

'•''January  29.  Going  on  deck  after  breakfast  at  eight 
this  morning,  I  found  the  dawning  far  advanced.  The 
whole  vault  was  bedewed  with  the  coming  day ;  and, 
except  Capella,  the  stars  were  gone.  The  southern 
horizon  was  clear.  We  were  certain  to  see  the  sun, 
after  an  absence  of  eighty-six  days.  It  had  been  ar- 
ranged on  board  that  all  hands  should  give  him  three 
cheers  for  a  greeting;  but  I  was  in  no  mood  to  join 
the  sallow- visaged  party.  I  took  my  gun,  and  walked 
over  the  ice  about  a  mile  away  from  the  ship  to  a  sol- 
itary spot,  where  a  great  big  hummock  almost  hem- 
med me  in,  opening  only  to  the  south.  There,  Par- 
see  fashion,  I  drank  in  the  rosy  light,  and  watched  the 
horns  of  the  crescent  extending  themselves  round  to- 
ward  the  north.  There  was  hardly  a  breath  of  wind, 
with  the  thermometer  at  only  —19^,  and  it  was  easy, 
therelbro,  to  keep  warm  by  walking  gently  up  and 
down.  I  thought  over  and  named  aloud  every  one  of 
our  little  circle,  F.  and  M.,  T.  and  P.,  B.  and  J.,  and 
our  dear,  bright  little  W. ;  wondered  a  while  whether 


i! 


ll)!| 


Itj! 


474 


SUNRISE,  NOON,  AND  SUNSET. 


there  were  not  some  more  to  be  remembered,  and  called 
up  one  friend  or  relative  after  another,  but  always  came 
back  to  the  circle  I  began  with. 

"  Very  soon  the  deep  crimson  blush,  lightening  into 
a  focus  of  incandescent  white,  showed  me  that  the 
hour  was  close  at  hand.  Mounting  upon  a  crag,  I  saw 
the  crews  of  our  one  ship  formed  in  lino  upon  the  ice. 
My  mind  was  still  tracing  the  familiar  chain  of  home 
affections,  and  the  chances  that  this  one  or  the  other 
of  its  links  might  be  broken  already.  I  bethought  me 
of  the  Sortes  Yirgilianaj  of  my  school-boy  days  :  I  took 
a  piece  of  candle  paper  pasteboard,  cut  it  with  my 
bowie-knife  into  a  little  carbine  target,  and  on  one 
side  of  this  marked  all  our  names  in  pencil,  and  on  the 
other  a  little  star.  Presently  the  sun  came:  never, 
till  the  grave-sod  or  the  ice  covers  me,  may  I  forego 
this  blessing  of  blessings  again  !  I  looked  at  him 
thankfully  with  a  great  globus  in  my  throat.  Then 
came  the  shout  from  the  ship — three  shouts — cheering 
the  sun.  I  fixed  my  little  star-target  to  the  floe,  walk- 
ed backward  till  it  became  nearly  invisible  ;  and  then, 
just  as  the  completed  orb  fluttered  upon  the  horizon, 
fired  my  *  salut.^  I  cut  M  in  half,  and  knocked  the  T 
out  of  Tom.  They  shall  draw  lots  for  it  if  ever  I  get 
home  ;  for  many,  many  years  may  come  and  go  again 
before  the  shot  of  an  American  rifle  signalizes  in  the 
winter  of  Baffin's  Bay  the  conjunction  of  sunrise,  noon- 
day, cndi  sunset. 

^^ January  30.  The  crew  determined  to  celebrate  'El 
regresado  del  sol,'  which,  according  to  old  Costa,  our 
Mahonese  seaman,  was  a  mojre  holy  day  than  Christ- 
mas  or  All-Saints.  Mr.  Bruce,  the  diversely  talented, 
favored  us  with  a  new  line  of  theatrical  exhibition,  a 
divertissement  o{ HlOVlxg^Mc  composition,  'The Country- 


man's firs- 
^  ^opy  the 


^"0  he  perf, 
January,  the 
Pantomime, 


A  Song . 

Countryman., 
i-and/ady 

Servant 

harlequin. 
"IdAfan  ...'"' 
Rejected  Lover  I 
Coiumbine  , 

^<'''"  to  be  open^ 
^0  admittance  to  i 


^'Je  strictest 


THE    PLAY.  475 

man's  jfirst  Visit  to  Town ;'  followed  by  a  pantomime. 
I  copy  the  play-bill  from  the  original  as  it  was  tacked 
against  the  main-mast : 

AROTZO   THEATRE. 

To  be  performed,  on  the  night  of  Thursday,  the  30th  day  of 
January,  the  Comio  Play  of  the  Countryman.  After  which,  a 
Pantomime. 

To  begin  with 
A  Song By  R.  Bruce. 

THE  GOUNTRTOIAN. 

Countryman R.  Baggs. 

Landlady ..C.  Berry. 

Servant T.  Dunning. 

FANTOmiOIE. 

Harlequin James  Johnson. 

Old  Man R.  Bruce. 

Rejected  Lover A.  C jnot. 

Columbine James  Smith. 

Dcors  to  be  opened  at  8  o'clock.    Curtain  to  rise  a  quarter  past  8  punctually 
No  admittance  to  Children  ;  and  no  Ladies  admitted  without  an  escort. 

Stage  Manager, 

S.  BENJAMIN. 

The  strictest  order  will  be  observed  both  inside  and  outside. 

We  sat  dovvn  as  usual  on  the  preserved-meat  boxes, 
which  were  placed  on  deck,  ready  strapped  and  beck- 
eted  [nautice  for  trunk-handled)  for  flinging  out  upon 
the  ice.  The  affair  was  altogether  creditable,  how- 
ever, and  every  body  enjoyed  it.  Here  is  an  outline 
of  the  pantomime,  alter  the  manner  of  the  newspapers. 
All  old  man  (Mr.  Bruce)  possessed  mysterious,  semi, 
magical,  and  wholly  comical  influence  over  a  rejected 


mM 


470 


TilE     PLAY. 


lover  (M.  Augiiste  Canot,  ship's  cook),  and  ColuinLine 
(Mr.  Sinitli)  exorcised  the  same  over  the  okl  man. 
HarU'quiii  (^Ir.  Jolinson),  liowover,  by  the  aul  of  a 
split-shinglo  ^van(l  and  the  charms  of  his  "  moth^' 
wear."  secures  the  adections  of  Cohunbiue,  cajoles  the 
okl  man,  persecutes  the  forlorn  lover,  and  carries  off 
the  pri/.o  of  love;  the  fair  Columbine,  who  had  been 
industriously  chewing  tobacco,  and  twirling  on  the 
heel  of  her  boot  to  keep  herself  warm,  giving  him  a 
sentimental  kiss  as  she  left  the  stage.  A  still  more 
sentimental  song,  sunjj  in  seal-skin  br(Md<s  and  a  ^'  nor- 
icestcr,^'  and  a  potation  all  round  of  hot-spiced  rum 
toddy,  concluded  the  entertainments. 

"It  isAVashington's  birth-day,  when  'hearts  should 
be  glad;'  but  we  have  no  wine  for  the  dinner-table, 
and  are  too  sick  for  artificial  merriment  without  it. 
Our  crew,  however,  good  patriotic  wretclies,  got  up  a 
theatrical  performance,  '  The  Irish  Attorney ;'  Pierce 
O'llara  taken  by  the  admirable  Bruce,  our  Crichtoii. 
The  ship's  thermometer  outside  was  at  —46°.  Inside, 
among  audience  and  actors,  by  aid  of  lungs,  lamps, 
and  housings,  we  got  as  high  as  30°  below  zero,  only 
sixty-two  below  the  freezing  point! !  probably  the  low- 
est atmospheric  record  of  a  theatrical  representation. 

"  It  was  a  strange  thing  altogether.  The  conden- 
sation was  so  excessive  that  we  could  barely  see  the 
performers :  they  walked  in  a  cloud  of  vapor.  Any 
extra  Aehemence  of  delivery  was  accompanied  by  vol- 
umes of  smoke.  The  hands  steamed.  AVhen  an  excit- 
ed Thespian  took  (-(Fhis  hat,  it  smoked  like  a  dish  of 
potatoes.  When  he  stood  expect  int,  nmsing  a  reply, 
the  vapor  wreathed  in  little  curls  from  his  neck.  This 
was  thirty  degrees  lower  than  the  lowest  of  Parry's 
North  Georgian  performances. 


The  I 

t'iGr.iioin, 
Cold  at 

terrijpted, 

the  Jicces* 

ibrt  Avas  n 

times  hard 

«^ew,  to  ol 

ercise  vons. 

the  snow, 
obtained  a 
S^ih  and  dui 
ground  and  ; 
t''e  floos,  aiti 
,  ^Vith  all  t: 
feeble  certaij 
s«"rvy  advaf] 
often  Warded 
^ted  itself  in 
/*:^f  sad  to  e^ 

^vliich  ro,i,sto(| 

Tiie.'^o,  of 

'"^'o'lo  ;  out  of 

•;'c'eraf,,J  o.,„,,. 

•strange  fo  ^ay 

officers  Were 'a'. 

'^0""d.s  opened 

f  barely.reuie, 
"'■earns. 

^^J^beciosooff 

^^^i^icrease,ancl 


T  II  E     S  0  U  ]t  V  Y  . 

f 

Tho  lowest  temperature  we  recorded  diirin<y  the 
cruise  Wiis  on  the  22d  of  this  month,  when  the  ship's 
ther.iiometer  giive  us  —46°;  my  oflship  spirit,  -52°. 

Cohl  as  it  was,  our  mid-day  exercise  was  never  in- 
terruptcd,  unless  by  wind  and  drift  storms.  We  felt 
the  necessity  of  active  exercise;  and  although  the  ef- 
fort was  accompanied  with  pains  in  the  joints,  some- 
times liardly  bearable,  we  mannged,  both  officers  and 
crew,  to  obtain  at  least  three  hou^s  a  day.  The  ex- 
ercise 1  insisted  of  foot-ball  and  sliding,  followed  by 
regui.  '•  y, lines  of  romps,  leap-frog,  and  tumbling  in 
the  snow.  By  shoveling  away  near  the  vessel,  we 
obtained  a  fine  bare  surface  of  fresh  ice,  extremely 
glib  Jiiid  durable.  On  this  we  constructed  a  skating- 
ground  cind  admirable  slides.  I  walked  regularly  over 
the  floes,  although  the  snows  were  nearly  impassable. 

With  all  this,  aided  by  hosts  of  hygienic  resources, 
feeble  certainly,  but  still  the  best  at  my  command, 
scurvy  advanced  steadily.  This  fearful  disease,  so 
often  warded  off  when  in  a  direct  attack,  now  exhib- 
ited itself  in  a  cachexy,  a  depraA'ed  condition  of  sys- 
tem sad  to  encounter.  Pain«,  diffuse,  and  non-loca- 
table,  were  combined  with  an  apathy  and  'assitude 
which  resisted  all  attempts  at  healthy  excitement. 

These,  of  course,  were  not  confined  to  the  crew 
alone  :  out  of  twenty-four  men,  but  five  were  without 
ulcerated  gums  and  blotched  limbs  ;  and  ol'these  live, 
stranire  to  sav,  four  were  cooks  and  stewards.  All  the 
officers  were  assailed.  Old  pains  were  renewed,  old 
wounds  opened ;  even  old  bruises  and  sprains,  received 
at  barely-remembered  periods  back,  came  to  us  like 
dreams. 

The  close  of  the  month  found  this  state  of  thin<i-s  on 
the  increase,  and  tho  strength  of  the  party  still  waning. 


CHAPTER  XXXIIL 


THE  FIEST  AMERICAN  EXPEDITION. 

(cONTIXrET).) 

Our  brig  was  still  restiiif^  on  lier  craiDe,  and  her 
consort  on  the  floe  a  short  distance  off.  wh«^n  tii(!  lirst 
month  of  spriiifr  came  to  greet  us.  ^\ C  had  passed 
the  latitude  ol'T^^ 

To  prepare  for  our  elosing  struggle  willi  the  ice- 
fields, or  at  least  divide  its  hazards,  it  M-as  determmed 
to  refit  the  Rescue.  To  get  at  h(>r  hull,  a  pir  was 
sunk  in  the  ice  around  ber,  large  enough  lor  four  men 
to  Avork  in  iit  a  time,  ant  etglit  feet  deep,  so  as  to  ex- 
pose her  stern,  and  leave  only  eighteen  iuches  of  the 
keel  indx'ddetl.  This  novel  dry-dock  answered  per- 
fectly. The  hull  was  inspected,  and  the  work  of  re- 
pair M'iis  pressed  so  assiduously,  thot  in  three  days  the 
stern-post  was  in  its  place,  and  the  new  bowsprit  ready 
for  shipping.  AVe  had  now  the  chances  of  two  ships 
again  "u  case  of  disaster. 

Tli9  19th  gave  us  a  change  of  scene.  I  was  aroused 
from  my  morning  sleep  by  the  familiiir  voice  of  Mr. 
Murdaugh,  as  he  hurried  along  the  half-(h^ck:  "Ice 
opening" — ''Open  leads  off  our  starboard  (quarter" — 
*' Frost-sinoke  all  around  us!"  Five  mitintes  after- 
ward,  Henri  had  been  summoned  from  the  gaih^y ;  and, 
carbine  in  hand,  I  was  tumbling  over  the  hunnnocks, 


A    OALE. 


479 


''March  20.  Thursday,  the  20th  of  March,  opens 
with  a  gale,  a  rejjiihir  gale.  On  reaching  deck  after 
breakfast,  I  Ibund  the  wind  from  the  southeast;  the 
lliernioineter  at  zero,  and  rising.  These  southeast 
storms  are  looked  upon  as  having  an  important  iiifhi- 
ence  on  the  ice.  They  are  always  warm,  and  hy  tlie 
sea  which  they  excite  at  the  southern  margin  of  the 
pack,  have  a  great  eifect  in  breaking  the  lioes.  Mr. 
Olrik  told  me  that  they  were  anxiously  looked  for  on 
the  Greenland  coast  as  precursors  of  open  water.  The 
(late  of  the  southeast  gale  last  year,  at  Uppernavik, 
was  April  2oth.  Our  thermometer  gave  +o^  at  noon- 
day, +  7^^  at  one,  and  +8°  at  three  o'clock!! 

"This  is  the  heaviest  storm  we  have  had  since  en- 
tering Lancaster  Sound,  exactlv  seven  months  and  a 
day  ago.     The  snow  is  whirled   in   such  quantities, 
that  oar  thick  felt  housing  seems  as  if  of  gau/e:  it 
not  only  covers  our  decks,  but  drives  into  our  clothes 
like  line  dust  or  Hour.    A  plated  thermometer  was  in- 
visible fourteen  feet  from  the  eye:  from  the  distance 
of  ten  paces  otf  on  our  quarter,  a  white  opacity  cov- 
ers  every  thing,  the  compass-stand,  fox-traps,  and  all 
beyond:  the  Rescue,  of  course,  is  completely  hidden. 
This  heavy  snow-drift  exceeds  any  thing  that  1  had 
conceived,  although  many  of  my  Arctic  English  I'riends 
had  discoursed  to  me  eloquently  about  their  perils  and 
discumiorts.     As  to  facing  it  in  a  stationary  position, 
nothing  human  could;  lor  a  man  would  be  buried  in 
ten  minutes.     Even  in  reaching  our  little  Tusculum, 
we  tumble  up  to  our  middle,  in  places  where  a  few 
ininutes  beti)re  the  very  ice  was  laid  bare.     The  en- 
tire topograiiliy  of  our  ice  is  changing  constantly. 
"  7  i*.M.  '  The  wind  is  howling.' 


::^l 


•Ih 


;1 


■,ll.i 


H- 


480 


AN     ESCAPE. 


m 


*' March  23,  Siinduy.  After  divine  service,  started 
for  the  ice-opening's.  AVe  are  now  in  the  centre  of 
an  area,  which  we  estimated  roughly  as  four  )iiiles 
from  north  to  south,  and  a  little  more  east  and  west. 
On  reaching'  what  was  yesterday's  sea-beach,  I  was 
forced  to  recant  in  a  measure  my  convictions  as  to 
the  force  of  the  opposing  floes. 

"A  new  crack  was  reported  at  one  o'clock,  about 
the  tliird  of  a  mile  from  our  ship;  and  the  bearings  of 
the  sun  showed  that  our  brig  had,  for  the  first  time 
since  enter! ug  Bafiin's  Bay,  rotated  considerably  to 
the  northward.  Here  were  two  subjects  for  examin- 
ation. So,  as  soon  as  dinner  was  over,  I  started  v/ith 
Davis  and  Willie,  two  of  my  scurvy  henclnneii,  on 
a  walk  to  tlie  openings.  Beaching  the  recent  crack, 
we  found  the  ice  five  feet  four  inches  thick,  and  the 
black  water,  in  a  clear  streak  a  foot  wide,  running  to 
tlie  east  and  west.  I  had  often  read  of  Esquimaux 
being  carried  off  by  the  separation  of  these  great  floes; 
but,  knowing  that  our  guns  could  call  assistance  from 
the  brig,  we  jumped  over  and  hurried  on.  We  were 
well  paid. 

"  I  was  tempted  to  stay  too  long.  The  Mind  sprang 
up  suddenly.  The  floe  began  to  move,  1  thought  of 
the  crack  between  me  and  the  ship,  and  started  off. 
The  walking,  however,  was  very  heavy,  and  my  scur- 
vy patients  stilf  in  the  extensors.  By  the  time  I 
reached  the  crack,  it  had  openeil  into  a  chasm,  and 
a  river  as  broad  as  the  W^issahiccon  ran  between  nie 
and  our  ship.  After  some  little  anxiety — not  much 
— 1  saw  our  captain  ordering  a  party  to  our  rclicl. 
The  sledges  soon  appeared,  dragged  by  a  willing  par- 
ty; the  India  rubber  boat  was  lowered  into  the  lead, 
and  the  party  ferried  over. 


cause  /or  i 

f'ojio  so,  I  ■ 

ii^ore  of  my 

so  earelesjj) 

movement,  a 

"in  the  V 

^^'^th  the  c/ia 
the  ice.     7^jjj 

''(^cessible  to, 

^^'G  gulls  wen 

'"g:  back  we  j 

'«  tlie  iuhipiai 

'I'^'^oeiated  in^^: 

inhnhlt  an  ice- 

"iiies  frr,,,!  tiie 

nfi^sinnnmerab 

^I'^^'i.     Yet  thi 

"^^''1  predatory 

^^'^^  as  Jumger 

^'"^l^s^'t'to  these 

"  "i'iiere  i,s  j^oj 

'"^^''^ge;  never  ul 

]'^^'''n>--tnhleneJ 
'"  ^^'iiristinas  t][ 
^'\^'^''  y-^i-o,  morj 
"^■'^'«-  Jt!  perpet, 
'I  iievcr-ondin.r 

^'•''Wo  trave^J 
J>-o:-cn  uuiy  yiJ 

'"'■  ^«H)ernation  )| 
great  winter." 


r  L  0  A  T  I  N  O     BEAKS 

"April  21,  Monday.  I  have  more  than  common 
cause  for  thankJulness.  A  mere  accident  kept  me 
from  startin<j  last  niffht  to  secure  our  bear.  Had  1 
done  so,  I  would  probably  have  spared  you  reading 
more  of  my  journal.  The  ice  over  which  we  traveled 
so  carelessly  on  Saturday  has  become,  by  a  sudden 
movement,  a  mass  of  floating  rubbish. 

"]n  the  walk  of  this  morning,  which  startled  me 
with  the  cliange,  I  ^aw  for  the  first  time  a  seal  upon 
the  ice.  This  looks  very  summer-like,  lie  w^as  not 
accessible  to  our  guns.  To  day,  ibr  the  first  time  too, 
the  gulls  were  flyi)ig  over  the  renovated  water.  Com- 
mg  back  we  saw  fresh  bear  tracks.  How  woiulerful 
is  the  adiiptation  which  enables  a  quadruped,  to  us 
associated  inseparably  with  a  land  existence,  thus  to 
inhabit  an  ice-covered  ocean.  We  an;  at  least  eighty 
miles  from  the  nearest  land,  Capo  Kator;  and  chan- 
nels innumerable  must  intervene  between  us  and  terra 
flrnui.  Yet  this  majestic  animal,  dependent  upon  his 
own  predatory  resources  alone,  and,  defying  cold  as 
well  as  hunger,  guided  by  a  superb  instinct,  confides 
himself  to  these  solitary,  unstable  ice-fields. 

"There  is  something  very  grand  about  this  tawny 
savage;  never  leaving  this  utter  destitution,  this  frigid 
iidio.'-pitablcness — (^mpling  in  May,  and  bringing  forth 
in  Christmas  lime — a  gestation  carried  on  all  of  it 
below  zero,  more  than  half  of  it  in  Arctic  darkness — 
living  in  perpetual  snow,  and  dependent  for  life  upon 
a  never-ending  activity — using  the  frozen  water  as 
a  raft  to  traverse  the  open  seas,  that  I  he  water  un- 
frozen may  yield  hin\  the  means  of  life.  No  time 
for  lulxMiiation  has  this  Polar  tiger:  his  life  is  one 
great  winter." 


482 


TnE     BREAK-UP. 


"June  5,  Thursday.  We  notice  again  this  morn- 
ing the  movement  in  the  trench  alongside.  The  float- 
ing scum  of  rubbish  advances  and  recedes  with  a  reg- 
ularity that  can  only  be  due  to  some  equable  undula- 
tion from  without  to  the  north.  We  continue  perch- 
ed up,  just  as  we  were  after  our  great  lift  of  last  De- 
cember.  A  more  careful  measurement  than  we  had 
made  before,  gave  us  yesterday,  between  our  height 
aft  and  depression  forward,  a  difference  of  level  of  6 
feet  4  mches.  This  inclination  tells  in  a  length  of 
83  feet — about  one  in  thirteen. 

"  P.M.  The  BREAK-UP  AT  LAST !  A  little  after  five 
this  afternoon,  Mr.  Griffin  left  us  for  the  Rescue,  after 


rurijciui'iiv  (JK  riiE  kk'k.  mav  :tl. 

A.  Ailvancp.  II  n.  MiorUT  dmnintfr,  3J  nilloi. 

R.  Ilisiuc.  c  C.  I,(i[u<T  iliiiiiii'liT,  5i  miles, 

UiRtanre  between  Iho  vcaHclx.  500  jarJ^. 


THE    RESCUE    FREE. 


483 


making  a  short  visit.  He  had  hardly  gone  before  I 
heard  a  htiil  and  its  answer,  boih  of  them  in  a  tone  of 
more  excitement  than  we  had  been  used  to  for  some 
time  past ;  and  the  next  moment,  the  cry,  '  Ice  cra6k- 
ing  ahead !' 

"  Murdaugh  and  myself  reached  the  deck  just  in 
time  to  see  De  Haven  crossing  our  gangway.  We  fol- 
lowed. Imagine  our  feelings  when,  midway  between 
the  two  vessels,  we  saw  Griffin  with  the  ice  separat- 
ing before  him,  and  at  the  same  instant  found  a  crack 
tracing  its  way  between  us,  and  the  water  spinning 
up  to  the  surface.  '  Stick  by  the  floe.  Gcod-by ! 
What  news  for  home?'  said  he.  One  jump  across 
the  chasm,  a  hearty  God  -  bless  -  you  shake  of  the 
hand,  a  long  jump  back,  and  a  little  river  divided  our 
party. 

*'  Griffin  made  his  way  along  one  fissure  and  over 
another.  We  followed  a  lead  that  was  open  to  our 
starboard  beam,  each  man  for  himself.  In  half  a 
minute  or  less  came  the  outcry,  *  She's  breaking  out ; 
all  hands  aboard  !'  and  within  ten  minutes  from  Grif- 
fin's first  hail,  while  we  were  yet  scrambling  into  our 
little  Ark  of  Refuge,  the  whole  area  about  us  was  di- 
vided by  irregular  chasms  in  every  direction. 

"All  this  was  o,t  half  past  five.  At  six  I  took  a 
bird's-eye  sketch  from  aloft.  Many  of  the  fissures  were 
already  some  twenty  paces  across.  Conflicting  forces 
were  at  work  e\^ery  where  ;  one  round-lutuse  moving 
here,  another  in  an  opposite  direction,  the  two  vessels 
parting  company.  Since  the  night  of  our  Lancastei: 
Sound  commotion,  months  ago,  the  Rescue  had  not 
changed  her  bearing :  she  was  alieady  on  our  port- 
beam.     Every  thing  was  change. 

•'Our  brig,  however,  had  not  yet  found  an  even  keel. 


I    1 


i  vmi 


sHI 


i-^'ii 


484 


THE    ADVANCE. 


milD's-KYE   VIEW   OF   FI.OE,  JISE   S. 

A.  Adviinci!.  I).  Finn  aclliprlii)!  to  itic  Ailviinro. 

R.  Hescuc.  (',  Piiili  liciwicii  brigs  belorc  brciik-up. 

n  n.  iltiinriiurks. 

The  eiinrmons  masses  of  ico,  tliriist  iindnr  lior  stern  by 
the  ac'lioii  of  repoated  pressures,  had  ghiod  tlicmselvos 
togotlier  so  eonipletely,  tliat  %vc  remained  cradled  in  a 
mass  of  ice  oxceediiifj  tw(!n1v-fi\e  feet  in  solid  depth. 
Many  of  these  tables  were  liberated  by  the  swell,  and 
rose  nnijestieally  from  their  recesses,  striking  the  ship, 
and  tluni  escaping  above  the  surface  for  a  moment, 
with  a  sudden  vault. 

"To  add  to  the  novelty  of  our  situation,  two  cracks 
coming  toirether  obliquedy,  met  a  few  yards  astern  ol 
us,  cleaving  through  the  heavy  ice. 


"June  5 
floating  si) 
tween  tw( 
daugh  wei: 
adhering  t( 
his  weight 
iy  promoni 
barely  time 
nails  in  tin 
tumbled  up 
into  clear  v 
hardly  reali 
we  have  be 
work  so  louj 
"9  P.M.  . 
the  nortluva 
renewed  the 
regularly  an: 
ea.st\vard.     " 
under  weigli 
fog  caused  u 
are  now  fast 
ress  at  six.  m 
"  From  th 
obtained  frej 
since  the  Jot 
hquefied  wif  j 
(biys:  think 
family! 

It  had  bp(> 
■should  refresi 
on  back  to  ]\| 
'Souml,  and 
Was  no  one 


AN     EVEN     KEEL. 


485 


"June  8,  Sunday.  Even  keel  again!!  Once  more 
floating  ship-fiisliion,  in  a  ship's  element.  It  was  be- 
tween twelve  and  one  o'clock  this  morning.  Mur- 
daugh  went  down  upon  the  fragment,  w^hich  was  still 
adhering  to  our  starboard  side.  He  had  hardly  rested 
his  weight  upon  it,  when,  wdth  certain  hurried,  scarce- 
ly premonitory  grindings,  it  cleared  itself.  He  had 
barely  time  to  scramble  up  the  brig's  side,  tearing  his 
nails  in  the  effort,  before,  with  crash  and  turmoil,  it 
tumbled  up  to  the  surface,  letting  us  down  once  more 
into  clear  water.  When  I  reached  the  deck,  I  could 
hardly  realize  the  level,  horizontal  condition  of  things, 
we  have  been  accustomed  to  this  up  and  down  hill 
work  so  long. 

"  9  P.M.  At  1  o'clock  P.M.  the  wind  freshened  from 
the  northward,  enough  to  make  sail.  We  cast  off,  and 
renewed  the  old  times  process  of  boring,  standing  ir- 
regularly among  the  fragments  to  the  southward  and 
eastward.  We  received  some  heavy  bumps,  but  kept 
under  weigh  until  6  P.M.,  when  an  impenetrable  ice- 
fog  caused  us  to  haul  up  to  a  heavy  lioe,  to  which  we 
are  now  fast  by  three  anchors.  AVe  estimate  our  prog- 
ress at  six  miles.     The  Rescue  is  not  visible. 

"From  the  heavy  floe  to  which  we  are  secured  we 
obtained  fresh  t/iawcd  water.  This  is  the  first  time 
since  the  loth  of  September  that  I  have  drunk  water 
liquefied  without  fire.  Eight  months  and  twenty-four 
days  :  think  of  that,  dear  strawberry  and  cream  eating 
family ! 

It  had  been  detornniiod  by  our  commander  that  we 
should  refresh  at  AVlialo  Fish  Islands,  and  thou  hast- 
en back  to  IMolvillo  ]>ay,  the  Tsorth  Water,  Lancaster 
Sound,  and  AVellington  Channel ;  and  certainly  there 
was  no  one  on  board  who  did  not  enter  heart  and  soul 

29 


V"    ! 


486 


KRONPRINSEjr. 


into  the  scheme.     It  was  in  pursuance  of  ".t  that  we 
were  now  hending  our  course  to  the  east. 

Tlie  circumstances  that  surrounded  us,  the  daily  in- 
cidents, our  destination  and  purpose,  were  the  same  as 
when  approaching  the  Sukkertoppen  a  year  belbre. 
There  were  the  same  majestic  fleets  of  hergs,  the  same 
legions  of  birds  of  the  same  varieties,  the  same  anx- 
ious look-out,  and  rapid  conning,  and  fearless  cncoun- 
ter  of  ice-fields.  Every  thing  was  unchanged,  except 
the  glowing  confidence  of  young  health  at  the  outset 
of  adventure.  We  had  taken  our  seasoning:  the  ex- 
perience of  a  winter's  drift  had  quieted  some  of  our  en- 
thusiasm. But.  we  felt,  as  veterans  at  the  close  of : 
campaign,  that  with  recruited  strength  we  should  be 
better  fitted  for  the  service  than  ever.  All,  therefore, 
looked  at  the  well-remenibered  cliffs,  that  hung  over 
Kronprinsen,  with  the  sentiment  of  men  approaching 
home  for  the  time,  and  its  needed  welcomes. 

We  reached  them  on  the  16th.  Mr.  Murdaugh,  and 
myself,  and  four  men,  and  three  bottles  of  rum,  were 
disjuitched  to  communicate  with  the  shore.  As  we 
rowed  in  to  the  landing-place,  the  great  dikes  of  in- 
jected syenite  stood  out  red  and  warm  against  the 
cold  gray  gneiss,  and  the  moss  gullies  met  us  like  fa- 
miliar grass-plots.  Esquimaux  crowded  the  rocks,  and 
dogs  barked,  and  children  yelled.  A  few  lusty  pulls, 
and  after  nine  months  of  drilt,  and  toil,-  and  scurvy, 
we  were  once  more  on  terra  firma. 

God  forgive  me  the  revulsion  of  unthankfulness! 
I  ought  to  have  dilated  with  gratitude  for  my  lot. 

AV^inter  had  been  severe.  The  season  hiiriicd.  The 
birds  had  not  yet  begun  to  breed.  Faces  were  worn, 
and  forms  bent.  Every  body  was  coughing.  In  one 
hut,  a  summer  lodge  of  reindeer  and  seal  skins,  was 


a  dead  chil 
ed  at  a  coi 
once  washe 
ther  leaned 
two  Jittle  si 
natural  and 
.  I  g'ave  the 
a  pair  of  se 
we  rowed  b 
we  were  unci 
We  were 
It  was  a  shoi 
were  all  of  i 
ground  to  co 
course.  We 
and  seal,  to  i 
fisli,  a  Zejwdc 
pork-baited  Ji] 
sort  we  could 
sinall-beer;  ai 
tliem  the  polk 
turn.  But  on 
we  were  work] 

We  passed 
terraced  sumni 
tan ;  the  grooiil 
?reat  dockyardi 
which  they  wel 
^'oy.     They  vvc 
Wound  our  wai 
otiier  would  col 
pie  set  to  be  t\ 
W'e  had  the  wh] 
^^Jver;  at  anotj 


AT    OODHAVEN. 


487 


a  dead. child.  It  was  many  months  since  I  had  look- 
ed at  a  corpse.  The  poor  little  thing  had  heen  for 
once  washed  clean,  and  looked  cheerfully.  The  fa- 
ther leaned  over  it  weeping,  for  it  was  a  hoy;  and 
two  little  sisters  were  making  lamentiition  in  a  most 
natural  and  savage  w^ay. 

I  gave  the  corpse  a  string  of  hlue  heads,  and  hoiight 
a  pair  of  seal-skin  hoots  for  twenty-five  cents ;  and 
we  rowed  back  to  tlie  brig.  In  a  very  little  while 
we  were  under  sail  for  Godhaven. 

AVe  were  hut  five  days  recruiting  at  Godhaven, 
It  was  a  shorter  stay  than  we  had  expected;  but  we 
were  all  of  us  too  anxious  to  regain  the  searching 
ground  to  complain.  We  made  the  most  of  it,  of 
course.  We  ate  inordinately  of  eider,  and  codfisli, 
and  seal,  to  say  nothing  of  a  hideous-looking  toad 
fish,  a  Lepodogaster,  that  insisted  on  patronizing  our 
pork -baited  lines;  chewed  bitter  herbs,  too,  of  every 
sort  we  could  get;  drank  largely  of  the  smallest  of 
small-beer;  and  danced  with  the  natives,  teaching 
them  the  polka,  and  learning  the  pee-oo-too-ka  in  re- 
turn. But  on  the  22d,  by  six  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
we  were  working  our  way  again  to  the  north. 

We  passed  the  hills  of  Disco  in  review,  \\\i\\  their 
terraced  summits,  simulating  the  Ghauts  of  Ilindos- 
tan;  the  green-stone  cliffs  round  Omenak's  Fiord,  the 
great  dockyard  of  bergs;  and  CapeCranstoun,  arouiid 
which  they  were  clustered  like  a  fleet  waiting  for  con- 
voy. They  were  of  majestic  proportions;  and  as  w^e 
wound  our  way  tortuously  among  them,  one  after  an- 
other would  come  into  the  field  of  view,  like  a  tem- 
ple set  to  be  the  terminus  of  a  vista.  At  one  time 
we  had  the  whole  Acropolis  looking  down  upon  us  in 
silver;  at  another,  our  Philadelpia  copy  of  the  Par- 


?! 


488 


BEIIOS. 


thenon,  the  monumental  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
stood  out  nlone.  Then,  aj^ain,  some  venerahle  Cathe- 
dral, with  its  deep  vaults  and  hoary  helfries,  would 
spread  itself  across  the  sky;  or  perhaps  some  wild 
conihination  of  architectural  impossibilities. 

We  moved  so  slowly  that  I  had  time  to  sketch  sev- 
eral of  these  dreamy  fabrics.  The  one  which  is  en- 
graved on  the  o]jposite  page  was  an  irregular  quad- 
rangle, projected  at  the  extremity  of  a  series  of  ice- 
structures,  like  the  promontory  that  ends  an  isthuuis : 
it  was  crowned  with  ramparts  turreted  by  frac^turos; 
and  at  the  water-line  a  great  barreled  arch  went  back 
into  a  cavern,  that  might  have  fabled  as  the  haunt  of 
sea-kings  or  smugglers. 

Off"  Storoe,  a  white  fox  (C  lagojms)  came  to  us  on 
the  loose  ice:  his  legs  and  the  tip  of  his  tail  were 
black.  lie  was  the  first  we  had  seen  on  the  Green- 
land coast. 

He  was  followed  the  next  day  by  a  party  of  Esqui- 
maux, who  visited  us  from  Proven,  dragging  their  ka- 
yacks  and  themselves  over  seven  miles  of  the  pack, 
and  then  paddling  merrily  on  board.  For  two  glasses 
of  rum  and  a  sorry  ration  of  salt-pork,  they  kept  turn- 
ing somersets  by  the  dozen,  making  their  egg-shell 
skills  revolve  sideways  by  a  touch  of  the  paddle,  and 
hardly  disappearing  under  the  water  before  they  were 
heads  up  again,  and  at  the  gangway  to  swallow  their 
reward. 

The  inshore  ice  opened  on  the  thirtieth,  and  toward 
evening  we  left  the  hospitable  moorage  of  our  iceberg, 
and  made  for  the  low,  rounded  rocks,  which  the  Ilosky 
pointed  out  to  us  as  the  seat  of  the  settlement.  The 
boats  were  out  to  tow  us  clear  of  the  floating  rubbish, 
as  the  light  and  variable  winds  made  their  help  nec- 


essary, a: 
^Sf^,  whei 
plf^.-isant  , 

cousin,   .Mil 


III),':  f.-i 


liii'sfu 


i 


The  bapti 

erafed  tJio.se 

^lot  conform 

ininntos,  to 

covered  witlj 

tJow  tJieir  H 

tive  and  inct] 

»»^um],  theJ 

They  vol  unfj 

h'  that  fJi,J 

"ig-  liquids,  i 
'^'i'  J»nd  jMiidd 
^^"•'^pihiljfy 
^'/"•d  tack,  a^ 

^ion  at  oiK'o 
Jt  is  not  M 

Company. 

^vitiiout  an 


ESQUIMAUX    GUESTS. 


489 


essary,  and  we  were  slowly  approRcliing  our  anchor- 
ago,  wlu-ii  a  rough  yawl  hoarded  us.  SIio  Itroiight  a 
pleasant  company,  Unas  the  schoolmaster  and  parish 
priest,  TiOuisa  his  sister,  the  genth;  Amalia,  liOuisa's 
cousin,  and  some  others  of  humbler  note. 


The  baptismal  waters  had  but  superficially  regen- 
erated these  savages:  their  deportment,  at  least,  did 
not  conform  to  our  nicest  canons.  For  the  fir^t  five 
niinntes,  to  be  snre,  the  ladies  kept  their  fnc  s  close 
covered  with  their  hands,  only  withdrawing  them  to 
blow  their  noses,  which  they  did  in  the  most  primi- 
tive and  picturesque  manner.  But  their  modesty  thtis 
assured,  tln^y  felt  that  it  needed  no  further  illustralion. 
They  volunteered  a  dance,  avowed  to  us  confidenlial- 
ly  that  lliey  had  educated  tastes — Amalia  that  she 
smoked,  Louisa  that  she  tolerated  the  more  enliven- 
ing liquids,  and  both  that  their  exercise  in  the  open 
air  had  n\iu\o  a  slight  refection  altogether  acceptable. 
Hospitality  is  the  virtue  of  these  wild  regions:  our 
luu-d  tack,  and  cranberries,  and  rum  were  in  requisi- 
tion at  once. 

It  is  not  for  the  host  to  tell  tales  of  his  after-dinner 
company.  But  the  truth  of  history  may  be  satisfied 
^vjthout  an  intimation  that  our  guests  paid  niggard 


■<■  > 


:i       . 


490 


PROVEN. 


•I-    "  .  .  .i 

honors  to  the  jolly  god  of  a  milder  clime.  The  veri- 
est prince,  of  bottle  memories,  would  not  have  quar- 
reled with  their  heel-taps.     *     *.     * 

AVe  were  inside  the  rocky  islands  of  Proven  harbor 
as  our  watches  told  us  that  another  day  had  begun. 
The  time  was  come  for  parting.  The  ladies  shed  a 
few  kindly  tears  as  we  handed  them  to  the  stern- 
seats:  their  learned  kinsman  took  a  recumbent  posi- 
tion below  the  thwarts,  which  i'avored  a  continuance 
of  his  nap;  and  the  rest  of  the  party  were  bestowed 
with  seaman-like  address — all  but  one  unfortunate 
gentleman,  who,  having  protracted  his  festive  devo- 
tions longer  than  usual,  had  resolved  not  to  "  go  honiq 
till  morning." 

The  case  was  a  difhcult  one;  hut  there  was  no  l''>lp 
for  it.  As  the  sailors  passed  him  to  the  bottom  of  the 
hoat,  and  again  out  upon  the  beach,  he  made  the  air 
vocal  with  his  indignant  outcries.  The  dogs — I  have 
told  you  of  the  dogs  of  these  settlements,  how  they 
welcomed  our  first  arrival — joined  their  nmsic  with 
his.  The  Provenese  came  chattering  out  into  the 
cold,  like  chickens  startled  from  their  roost.  The  gov- 
ernor was  roused  by  the  uproar.  And  in  the  midst 
of  it  all,  our  little  weather-beati'u  flotilla  ran  up  the 
first  American  flag  that  had  been  seen  in  the  port  of 
Proven. 

The  port  of  Proven  is  securely  sheltered  by  its  mon- 
ster hills.  But  they  can  not  be  said  to  smile  a  wel- 
come upon  the  navigator. 

Summer  comes  slowly  upon  Proven.  When  we 
arrived,  the  slopes  of  the  hills  were  heavily  patched 
with  snow,  and  the  surface,  where  it  sho\ved  itself, 
was  frozen  dry.  The  water-line  was  toothed  with 
fangs  of  broken  ice,  which  scraped  against  th*:  beach 


THE    HOUSE    OF   PROVEN. 


491 


as  the  tides  rose  and  fell;  and  an  iceberg  somehow 
or  other  had  Ibnnd  its  way  into  the  little  port.  It 
was  a  hiirniles.s  lump,  too  deep  sunk  to  float  into  dan- 
gerous nearness;  and  its  spire  rose  pleasantly,  like  a 
villaj^fo  church. 

^'■July  3.  I  am  writing  in  the  'Hosky'  House  of 
Cristiansen.  Cristiansen  is  tho  Danish  governor  of 
Proven,  and  this  house  ol'  Cristiansen  is  the  House  of 
Proven.  Its  owner  is  a  simple  and  shrewd  old  Dane, 
hale  and  vigorous,  thirty-one  of  whose  sixty-four  win- 
ters  have  been  spent  within  the  Arctic  circle,  north  of 
70°  N.  Lord  in  his  lonely  region — his  four  sons  and 
five  subonlinates,  oilmen,  the  only  white  faces  about 
him,  except  w  hen  he  visits  Uppernavik — the  good  old 
man  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  no  superior.  His 
habits  are  three  fourths  Esquimaux,  one  eighth  Dan. 
ish,  and  the  remainder  Provenish,  or  peculiarly  his 
own.  liis  wile  is  a  half-breed,  and  his  i'amiiy,  in  lan- 
guage and  aspect,  completely  Esquimaux. 

"  When  the  long,  dark  winter  comes,  he  exchanges 
books  with  his  friend  the  priest  of  Uppernavik.  '  The 
Dant/  IVMUiing  Magazin,'  and  '  The  History  of  the  Uni- 
tas  Fratrum,'  take  the  place  of  certain  well-thumbed, 
ancient, sentimental  novels;  and  sometimes  the  priest 
comes  in  person  to  tenant  the  '  spare  room,'  which 
makes  it  very  pleasant,  '  for  we  talk  Danish.' 

"Except  this  spare  room,  w^hich  elsewhere  would 
be  called  the  lol't  of  the  house,  its  only  apartment  is 
the  one  in  which  I  am.  And  here  eat,  and  drink,  and 
cook,  and  sleep,  and  live,  not  only  Cristiansen  and  all  . 
his  descendants,  but  his  wife's  mother,  and  her  chil- 
dren,  grandchildren,  and  great-grandchildren  who  are 
growing  up  about  her.  It  is  fifteen  feet  broad  by  six- 
teen long,  with  just  height  enouj^h  for  a  grenadier, 


i' 


!]■ 


1  ;  i  1 

1 

-'I-- 

B' 

T 

i 

1: 

492 


THE    FAMILY. 


without  his  cap,  to  stand  erect,  and  not  touch  the 
beams.  The  frame  of  the  house  is  of  Norway  pine, 
coated  with  tar,  with  its  interspaces  cauiked  with  moss, 
and  small  window-panes  inserted  in  a  deep  casing  of 
wood. 

"  The  most  striking  decorative  feature  is  a  ledge  or 
shelf  of  pine  plank,  of  varying  width,  Avhich  runs  round 
three  of  its  sides.  Its  capacity  is  wonderful.  It  is 
the  sofa  and  bed,  on  which  the  entire  united  fanuly 
find  room  to  loll  and  sleep  ;  and  upon  it  now  are  hud- 
dled, besides  a  navy  doctor  and  his  writing  board,  one 
ink-bottle,  sundry  articles  of  food  and  refreshment,  one 
sleeping  child,  one  lot  of  babies  not  in  the  least  asleep, 
one  canary-bird  cage  with  its  exotic  and  most  sorrow- 
ful little  prisoner,  and  an  infinite  variety  of  other  ar- 
ticles too  tedious  to  mention,  comprising  seal-skins, 
boots,  bottles,  jumpers,  glasses,  crockery  both  of  kitch- 
en and  nursery,  coffee-pots,  dog-skin  socks  canvas  pil- 
lows, an  eider-down  comforter,  and  a  sick  bitch  with 
a  youthful  family  of  whining  puppies. 

"  Una,  the  second  daughter,  has  been  sick  and  un- 
der treatment;  and  she  is  now  hard  at  \vurk  with  her 
sisters,  Anna,  Sara,  and  Cristina,  on  a  tribute  of  grati- 
tude to  her  doctor.  They  have  been  busy  all  the 
morning  whipping  ond  stitching  the  seal-skins  with 
reindeer  tendon  thref.d.  My  present  is  to  bo  a  oiu- 
plete  suit  of  ladies'  apparel,  made  of  the  richest  seal- 
skin, according  to  the  standard  mode  of  Proven,  which 
may  always  be  presumed  to  be  the  '  latest  winter  fash- 
ion.' It  is  a  really  elegant  dress.  To  some  the  unmen- 
tionables  might  savor  of  nuiscularity ;  but  having  seen 
something  of  a  more  polite  society,  my  feminine  asso- 
ciations are  not  restricted  to  petticoats.  Extremes  meet 
ill  the  Esq^uimaux  of  Greenland  and  Ama;',(M\s  of  Paris. 


one 
tole 
sons 


,y 


^m'^ 


ESQUIMAUX    LIl'E. 

"  Tlio  large  family  is  a  happy  ^■f^\A^~ 

one:  .so  .small  a  home  coiikl  not  f'l        ^     ~-._;^ 

tolerate  a  ([iiarrelsome  mess.    The  ' 

sons,  the  men  Cristiansens,  brave  \j  ft^^r    ,^.  Jr" 


493 


isteS-i***-^ 


iiud  stalwart  fellows,  practiced  in  the  kayack,  and  the 
.sledge,  and  the  whale-net,  adroit  with  the  harpoon  and 
expert  with  the  rifle,  are  constant  at  the  chase,  and 
bring  home  their  spoil,  with  the  honest  pride  becoming 
good  }M-nvi(lers  of  their  household.  And  the  women, 
in  tin  if  nur.sing,  cooking,  tailoring,  and  hou.sekeeping, 
are,  I  suppose,  faithful  enough.  But  what  favorable 
impression  that  the  nnnd  gets  through  other  chaimels 
can  coniend  against  the  information  of  tlie  nose  !  Or- 
gan t»f  the  aristocracy,  critic  and  inagisfcr  moru/n  of 
all  civili/iition,  censor  th:>t  heeds  neit  li(>r  nrgument  not 
remonstrance — the  nose,  alas  !  it  bids  n:e  record,  liiat 
to  all  their  possible  godliness  cleanliness  is  not  super- 
added. 

"During  the  short  .summer  of  dayliglit — it  is  one 
of  the  many  apparent  vestiges,  among  this  peojile,  of 
ancient  nonuidic  habits — the  whole  family  gather  joy- 


K 


ft 


fl    • 

If 

m 


i     !■ 


494 


ESQUIMAUX    LIFE. 


ously  in  the  summer's  lodge,  a  tent  of  seal  or  reindeer 
skin,  pitched  out  of  doors.  Then  the  room  has  its  an- 
nual ventilation,  and  its  cooking  and  chamber  furni- 
ture are  less  liable  tQ.be  confounded.  For  the  winter 
the  arrangement  is  this :  on  three  sides  of  the  room, 
close  by  the  ledge  I  have  spoken  of,  stand  as  many 
large  pans  of  porous  steatite  or  serpentine,  elevated  on 
slight  wooden  tripods.  These,  fiUed  with  seal-blub- 
ber^ and  garnished  with  moss  round  the  edge  to  serve 
as  a  wick,  unite  the  functions  of  chandelier  and  stove. 
They  who  quarrel  with  an  ill-trimmed  lamp  at  home 
should  be  disciplined  by  one  of  them.  Each  boils  its 
half-gallon  kettle  of  coffee  in  twenty  minutes,  and 
smokes — like  a  small  chimney  on  fire ;  and  the  three 
burn  together.  There  is  no  flue,  or  fire-place,  or  open- 
ing of  escape. 

"On  the  remaining  side  of  the  room  stand  a  valued 
table  and  throe  chairs;  and  with  these,  liUe  a  buhl 
cabinet  or  fancy  etagere,  conspicuous  in  its  modest 
corner,  a  tub.  It  is  the  steeping-tub  for  curing. skins. 
Its  contents  require  active  fermeiitation  to  fit  them  for 
their  office;  and,  to  judge  from  the  odor,  the  process 
had  been  going  on  successfully." 

"V^'e  warped  out  to  sea  again  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
thirJ,  with  our  friend  the  cooper  for  jiilot ;  the  entire 
seltlement  turning  out  upon  the  rocks  to  wish  us  good- 
by,  and  remaining  there  till  they  looked  in  the  dis- 
tance like  a  herd  of  seal.  But  we  found  no  opening 
in  the  pack,  and  came  back  again  to  Proven  on  the 
fourth,  not  sorry,  as  the  weather  was  thirkoning,  to 
pass  our  festival  inside  the  little  port. 

Our  celebration  was  of  the  primitive  order.  AVe 
saluted  the  town  with  one  of  tlio  largest  })alanced 
stones,  which   we  rolled  down  from  the  did'  ahovo; 


A    NIGHT    SCENE. 


495 


and  made  an  eggf-nogg  of  eider  eggs ;  and  the  men 
had  a  llosky  ball ;  and,  in  a  word,  we  all  did  our  best 
to  make  the  day  differ  from  other  days — which  at- 
tempt failed.     Still,  God  ever  bless  the  fourth! 

The  sixth  was  Sunday,  and  we  attended  church  in 
the  mor)iing  at  the  schoolmaster's.  The  service  con- 
sisted of  a  long-winded  hymn,  and  a  longer  winded 
seniiou,  in  the  Esquimaux — surely  the  longest  of  long- 
winded  languages.  The  congregation  were  some  two 
do/en  men  and  women,  not  counting  our  party. 

Vt'o  put  to  sea  in  the  afternoon.  The  weather  was 
soft  and  warm  on  shore ;  but  outside  it  was  perfectly 
delightful :  no  wind — the  streams  of  ice  beyond  en- 
forcing a  most  perfect  calm  upon  the  water ;  the  ther- 
mometer in  the  sunshine  frequently  as  high  as  7G°, 
and  never  sinking  below  30^  in  the  shade.  I  basked 
on  deck  all  night,  sleeping  in  the  sun. 

And  such  a  night!  I  saw  the  moon  at.midni;'ht, 
while  the  sun  was  sliinting  along  the  tinted  hor'vA^m, 
and  duplicated  by  reflection  from  the  water  below  it: 
the  dark  bergs  to  seaward  had  outlines  of  silver;  and 
two  wild  cataracts  on  the  shore-side  were  filling  from 
ice-backed  cliffs  twelve  hundre<l  feet  into  the  sea. 


i 


'      M 


'■  I 


H  '^J 


M  ir  li 


1    K^llV  •    !' 


I 


Hi' 


m^tK 


496 


BRITISH    WHALERS. 


Juli/  7.  I  was  awakened  from  my  dreamy  sleep  to 
receive  tlie  visits  of  a  couple  ol'  boats  that  were  work- 
ing slowly  to  us  through  the  floes.  An  English  face — 
two  English  faces — twelve  English  faces :  what  a  hap- 
py  sight !  We  had  had  no  one  but  ourselves  to  speak 
our  own  tongue  to  for  three  hundred  days,  and  were 
as  glad  to  listen  to  it  as  if  we  had  been  serving  out 
the  time  in  the  penitentiary  of  silence  at  Auburn  or 
Siug-8i ng.  Their  broad  North  Briton  was  music.  It 
was  not  the  oflensive  dialect  of  the  provincial  English- 
man, with  the  affectation  of  speaking  his  language 
correctly ;  but  a  strong  and  manly  home-brew  of  the 
best  language  in  the  world  for  words  of  sincere  and 
hearty  good-will.  They  had  to  turn  up  their  noses 
at  our  seal's-liver  breakfast;  but,  when  they  heard  of 
our  winter  trials,  they  stuffed  down  the  seal  without 
tasting  it.  I  felt  sorry  after  they  were  off,  that  I  had 
not  taken  their  names  down  every  one. 

The  whaling  vessels  to  w'^ich  they  returned  were 
in  the  freer  water  outside  the  "hore  stream,  the  .Jane 
O'Boness,  Captain  John  Walker  >  and  the  Pacific,  Cap- 
tain Patterson. 

Tni:  next  day,  beating  hard  to  windward,  we  made 
Uppornavik  again.  The  scenery  around  it  v.'i^.s  very 
striking,  exhibiting  some  magnificent  mural  sections 
of  gneiss  raid  slates.  The  entering  headland  was  some 
fifteen  hundred  feet  high.  We  found  all  the  hills 
pat(!hed  with  snow  to  the  water's  edge,  where  their 
bases  are  abraded  by  the  moving  floes  from  one  year's 
end  to  another. 

Mr.  iMurdaugh  and  myself  visited  the  town  ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  priest's  house,  the  governor's  house,  the  oil 
house,  the  school-church  house,  and  siindr\  native 
]wi<.     T!ie  M'ood-cut  at  the  bottom  of  page  4W  giv-  < 


UPPER    NAVIK. 


497 


the  interior  of  one  of  them,  in  which  we  superintend- 
ed the  manufacture  of  a  dish  of  coffee. 

We  were  received  by  the  governor,  accompanied  hy 
an  okl  friend  of  ours  from  Proven,  a  sort  of  secretary 
there,  "  pienty-scribe-'em"  as  he  styled  liimself  Tlie 
okl  gentleman  had  arrived  at  two  that  morning,  in  a 
wliale-boat,  with  his  stalwart  sons,  after  thirty-two 
miles  of  pulling  through  the  ice  against  the  wind. 
"  Keesey  ver  bod,"  he  said ;  *'  the  ice  was  very  bad," 

The  governor,  superior  in  tone  to  Cristiansen,  who 
is  a  self-made  man,  welcomed  us  with  fine  Danish 
good-breeding,  and  there  is  no  good-breeding  better. 
We  found  him  out  to  be  a  desperate  conservative,  fear- 
ful of  nothing  but  change.  His  house  was  after  the 
fashion  of  Mr.  Moldrop's,  of  Godhaven,  and  scrupu- 
lously clean.  Coffee  Avas  served  ;  and  we  had  the 
honor  of  being  introduced  to  three  young  ladies  of  the 
half-breed,  absolutely  with  frocks  on.  I  thought  I 
could  see  that  one  of  them  had  pantalettes  of  seal-skin 
peeping  out  from  under  her  skirt,  and  a  wiser  critic 
than  myself  might  have  said  that  all  their  dresses  were 
somewhat  antique  of  fashion.  But  they  met  us,  on 
the  other  hand,  with  a  lady-like  disregard  of  our  own 
outlandish  costume ;  and  though  our  language  was 
somewhat  composite  in  its  idiom,  for  I  understand  nei- 
ther the  Danish  nor  the  Hosky,  and  they  understood 
very  little  English,  we  managed  to  keep  rip  quite  an 
animated  conversation.  It  was  very  pleasant  to  re- 
lapse  i  1  their  company  for  a  while,  into  the  manners 
of  society  at  home. 

We  saw  also  the  family  of  Petersen,  Penny's  dog 
and  Esquinuiux  manager,  all  neat  and  pleasing  per- 
sons;  tlie  sons,  frank,  nuinly  fellows,  and  the  eldest 
daughter  really  quite  refined  and  pretty.    But  wo  did 


a  ^ 


)?  1 


1 


is  a 


498 


BAFFIN    S     ISLAND.S. 


Piwr-  ■ 


not  remain  long.  Our  Aberdeen  friend-s  had  transfer, 
red  to  us  a  full  supply  of  newspapers  which  they  had 
brought  for  Penny :  so,  after  prescribing  for  the  gov- 
ernor's  child,  and  receiving  a  dog-skin  jumper  for  my 
fee,  we  returned  on  board  to  review  the  annals  of  the 
outer  world  for  the  past  year. 

We  now  pursued  our  way  very  smoothly.  We  had 
delightful  weather ;  not  the  best,  indeed,  for  men  whose 
errand  lay  ahead,  but  still  very  welcome  to  those  who 
had  roughed  it  of  late  so  severely.  Summer  was  con- 
centrating all  its  strength  and  beauty  in  the  long,  sun- 
encircled  day. 

Both  our  vessels  were  carrying  home  Esquimaux 
dogs.  By  continued  kindness  and  over-feeding,  I  suc- 
ceeded in  quite  changing  the  nature  of  ours:  both 
Disco  and  Hosky  were  on  the  high  road  to  civilization. 
But  those  on  board  the  Rescue  and  the  Albert  were 
still  as  wild  as  jackals:  let  loose  upon  the  ice,  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  catch  them  again.  One  after- 
noon, a  little  below  the  Devil's  Thumb,  when  the  dogs 
of  the  Albert  were  out  on  the  floe  for  exercise,  a  sud- 
den breeze  allowed  her  to  work  to  windward  through 
an  open  lead.  One  poor  dog  was  left  behind.  Boats 
were  sent  out  to  recover  him,  and  we  all  tried  by  voice 
and  jTf'sture  to  coax-  him  townrd  us.  But  the  luilf 
savage,  though  he  stood  gazing  at  us  wildly  when  we 
were  at  a  distance,  ran  skulking  and  wolf-like  as  soon 
as  we  wem  ^ear.  AVe  were  forced  at  last  to  abandon 
him  to  his  fate.  We  could  see  him  for  hours,  a  dark 
speck  upon  the  white  floe ;  and  afterward,  as  far  oft' 
as  the  spy-glass  served,  still  with  his  head  raised  and 
his  body  thrown  back  on  his  haunches.  Worse  than 
this ;  such  was  the  quiet  expanse  of  ice  and  water, 
that  we  heard  the  poor  creature's  howling,  waxing 


ogs 
ud- 


ioice 


hn 


If 


ulou 
IcUu-k 
tV 
ind 
than 
k'liter, 
Lx'mg 


r  0 


GOOD-DY    TO   THE    I'BINCE    ALBERT,    MELVILLE    BAY. 


^',     /|'tji.K.JtiLi(\)*;i(V.-:.iA.4,,AiJ^< 


INTtlllUH    Ol-'    A    .VATlVl;    HLT.    1 1'I'E11NA\1K. 


Ill 


N 


't! 


a 


m 


ESQUIMAUX     UOGS. 


-501 


fairfter  and  lainter,  for  eight  hours  after  we  left  the 
ice. 

The  truhiing  of  these  animals  hy  the  natives  is  of 
the  most  ungracious  sort.  I  never  heard  a  kind  ac- 
cent from  an  Esquimaux  to  his  dog.  The  driver's 
wliip  of  walrus  hide,  some  twenty  feet  long,  a  stone 
or  a  lump  of  ice  skillfully  directed,  an  imprecation 
loud  and  sharp,  made  emphatic  by  the  fist  or  foot,  and 
a  grudged  ration  of  seal's  meat,  make  up  the  winter's 
entertainment  of  an  Esquimaux  team.  In  the  sum- 
mer the  dogs  run  at  large  and  cater  for  themselves. 

I  remarked  that  there  were  comparatively  few  of 
them  at  Holsteinberg,  and  was  told  a  melancholy  sto- 
ry to  account  for  it.  It  seems  that  the  governor, 
and  priest,  and  fisherman  keep  goats,  veritable  goats, 
housed  in  a  fire-warmed  apartment  in  winter,  tmd  al- 
lowed the  rest  of  the  year  to  crop  the  grasses  of  the 
snow  valleys.  Now  the  half-tutored,  unfed  Esqui- 
maux dog  would  eat  a  goat,  bones,  skin,  and,  for  aught 
I  know,  horns.  The  diet  was  too  expensive.  It  be- 
came a  grave  question,  therefore,  how  to  reconcile  the 
incompatibilities  of  dog  and  goat.  The  matter  was 
settled  very  summarily.  When  the  green  season  of 
sunshine  and  plenty  came,  the  dogs  were  sent  to  a 
rocky  islet,  a. sort  of  St.  Helena  establishment,  about 
a  mile  from  the  main,  with  permission  to  live  by  their 
wits  ;  and  the  goats  remained  to  browse  and  grow  fat 
at  large.  The  results  were  tragical.  Tiio  dogs  were 
afflicted  with  sore  famine.  Great  life  battles  began  ; 
the  strong  keeping  tliemselves  alive  by  eating  the 
weak.  By  this  terrible  process  of  gradual  reduction, 
the  colony  was  resolved  into  some  four  or  five  scarred 
veterans,  whose  nightly  combats  disturbed  even  the 
milk  drinkers  at  the  settlement. 


I 


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ii 


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li 


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11.  ■■' 

i  ■■     !      ! 

.1; 


f:    i 


502 


iiT 


AN     lCE-TKA.r. 


1  re.  aays  after  t.e  ^^^ZX^tZ 

neaved  our  luaed  '-*";!*  t,      a  tnd  o'ar  labyrinth 

Thumb.    But  here  *;1^~^„  '„„,  ^,y,  and  wea- 

of  bergs  attended  us  .MM^^      „„,„nandor  had 

,ying  us  with  tUe,.  ■.""""'X'^^p^thized  in  it-how 

tut  one  thought,  and  ««;"  J^^ts  position  at  tire 

e„„,d  our  little  sduaxhon  X^erwise  no  lack  of 

searching  grounds!     "«        ,.     intricate  ones,  with 

incidents.     There  ^/J^**  Vie,  „f  light,  one  of 

Wrds.  ,       .  wd  left  us.    We  were 

But  the  spirit  of  the  ^nt  had  ^^^^  ^^^^ 

close  upon  the  ""'>f;  f  ^rid  of  this  vexatious  en- 
,,eeks  remained  ^'f  *"f„Vtncaster  Sound,  com- 
•  anglement,  press  on  *™";^j^  t„„  cirannel,  and  re- 
plete  our  explorations  ■^j'^^^""S  ^^^^  ^^^^^  „„ 

Ln  to  the  open  ^'""f  *°  3  been  fimen  in  last 
;::f;''7ldirtwert iTa'perfect  ice-trap,  unable 

to  win  an  inch  of  P'OS'^''^       ^  t„„.     As  long  ago  as 

We  were  ^"*°»*  *^^,Xktlnrined  to  make  south, 
thehm^UergoodolUhd^^^^ 

despairing  f  .J»'  "^"  "  .„  ^.^j  attached  to  the  old  land- 
eleventh,  while  wo  ««'»  i^'^         „  ,,„,,,  „,„!  di.ap- 

floe,  she  found    ■«'^/^"^y '"  ^i^u  Ua'nlly  talk  of 
peared  on  the  thirteen    ■  ^e  c  ^^  ^^  ,„ 

the  regrets  we  all  '>''* 'f  !°;'  »y  ^ear  their  broken- 
„ie  that  for  days  after  ^jXt"  The  Garb  of  Old 
hearted  little  hand-organ  gi  mding     i  • 

Gael. 


IS      ing  un( 


BERG     PRACTURT:. 


503 


"VVo  perlmps  tliouf^ht  of  their  departure  the  more, 
becjuise  it  implied  something  of  uncertainty  as  to  our 
own  fate.  They  had  avowedly  left  us,  fearless  and 
enterprising  as  they  were,  to  escape  from  hazai'ds  that 
we  were  continuing  to  brave,  Mr.  Leask,  their  vet- 
eran  ice-master,  thought,  when  he  left  us,  that  if  ^ve 
followed  the  northern  leads  there  was  almost  a  cer- 
tainty of  our  being  caught,  like  the  Swan,  and  the 
York,  and  a  host  of  others  before  us.  A  pleasant  neigh- 
borhood,  truly !  Here  perished  the  ships  of '47.  Here 
the  North  Star  was  beset  in  '48 ;  hereabout,  the  year 
before  last,  the  Lady  Jane,  and  the  Superior,  and  the 
Prince  of  Wales ;  and,  coming  to  our  own  experience 
of  last  year,  here  it  was,  in  this  very  devil's  hole, 
that  M'e  wore  out  our  three  weeks'  imprisonment. 

Moreover,  the  season  was  more  advanced  than  last 
year's  had  been.  The.  thermometer,  which  stood  at 
noon  in  the  shade  at  54°,  sunk  in  the  evening  hours 
to  30°. 

"August  17,  Sunday.  The  same  revolving  wall  of 
bergs  meets  us  to  tlie  west,  but  the  glacier  on  llie  other 
side  is  partially  hidden  by  a  new  procession  insJiore. 
While  profaning  the  day  by  an  attempt  to  sketch  these 
sublime  monuments  of  creative  power  in  my  drawing- 
book,  I  was  interrupted  by  a  heavy  undulation,  roll- 
ing under  the  brig,  and  passing  on  to  the  solid  inshore 
floe.  It  was  followed  by  a  number  of  others,  coming 
in  qu'ck  succession,  and  breaking  up  the  floe  drift  in 
every  direction.  The  action  continued  for  some  min- 
utes. It  must  have  been  caused  by  some  very  large 
and  probably  irregular  berg  overturning  at  a  distance; 
but  it  was  without  noise,  and  indeed  without  premo- 
nition  of  any  sort.  The  direction  of  the  wave  where 
it  struck  us  was  from  the  northwest.     Up  to  this  mo- 


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Hiotographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER, NY.  MStO 

(716)  S72-4S03 


504 


THE    OPENING. 


ment,  all  the  heavy  heaving  and  warping  of  to-day 
had  been  without  any  effect.  Now  the  floes  separated 
as  if  by  magic:  there  was  relaxation  every  where;  and 
we  made  at  least  two  hundred  yards  before  the  ice 
closed  again. 

"  This  afternoon,  the  captain,  with  Murdaugh  and 
myself,  walked  and  climbed  over  this  same  ice,  to 
make  a  reconnoissance  of  the  region  beyond  the  bergs. 
By  the  aid  of  boat-hooks  and  some  slippery  jumping 
we  achieved  it,  and  were  at  last  able  to  climb  one  of 
the  imprisoning  bergs,  and  look  from  its  crest  to  the 
other  side. 

*'  It  was  a  sermon  such  as  uninspired  man  has  never 
preached.  There,  there,  far  down  below  us,  there  was 
the  open  water,  stretching  wide  away  to  the  south; 
placid. and  bright,  bearing  on  its  glazed  surface  fleets 
of  bergs  and  rafts  of  floes,  but  open  water  still ;  and 
yet  further  on,  the  unbroken  water-sky.  Our  little 
brig  was  under  us,  the  tiny  fretwork  of  her  spars  traced 
clean  and  sharp  against  the  arena  of  ice ;  but,  thank 
God !  she  is  nearing  the  gates  of  her  prison-house.  De 
Haven  was  right.  One  quarter  of  a  mile !  Now,  lads, 
for  the  warps  again ! 

"  Midnight.  We  are  out :  at  ten  minutes  past  eleven 
we  shipped  our  rudder,  the  first  time  in  three  weeks; 
and  rhade  sail,  the  first  time  since  the  26111  of  July. 

"AV^e  owe  it  all  to  a  relaxation  of  the  floes.  The 
wind  was  from  the  northward :  the  bergs  that  hemmed 
in  the  loose  drift  around  us  yielded  a  little  toward  the 
west,  and  the  skreed  began  to  separate.  The  main- 
brace  was  spliced ;  springs  took  the  place  of  warps ; 
and  the  men  went  gallantly  to  their  work.  They 
were  as  anxious  to  get  out  as  any  of  us. 

"At  last  we  reached  an  opening :  two  immense 


bergs,  ov( 

water-Iin 

Shall  we 

and  capsi 

of  anchor 

down  men 

sels  as  oui 

pendulous 

ven  gave  i 

of  the  Dev 

^'August 

o{^  us :  she 

commodore 

the  United 

The  gam 

Sound  was 

riddled  cre^ 

North  Baffii 

After  ouI 

sailed  to  one 

casks.     The 

'"ff  so,  but  1 

after  a  closii 

Jioineward. 

"Nation  to  t 

^^''r'l,  in  tlie 

navik  for  a 

^^'ith  the 
most  norther 
''^720  47'.th 
Arctic  circle 
renewed  our 
once  in  ever] 
penhagen. 
•ness  of  Gree 


n 


THE    ESCAPE. 


505 


bergs,  overhanging  and  ragged ;  and  down  toward  the 
water-line,  an  opening  het'veen  them  like  a  gateway. 
Shall  we  pass  ?  We  have  seen  so  many  disruptions, 
and  capsizings,  and  accidents  of  all  sorts  in  this  work 
of  anchor-planting :  sometimes  a  mere  breath  brings 
down  masses  that  would  bury  half  a  dozen  such  ves- 
sels as  ours ;  and  these  bergs  are  so  water- washed  and 
pendulous.  Murdaugh  waited  for  the  order.  De  Ha- 
ven gave  it;  and,  in  deep  silence,  we  passed  the  Gades 
of  the  Devil's  Trfip. 

"August  19,  Tuesday.  The  Rescue  is  close  astern 
of  us :  she  got  through  about  noon  yesterday.  Our 
commodore  has  resolved  on  an  immediate  return  to 
the  United  States." 

The  game  had  been  played  out  fairly.  Lancaster 
Sound  was  out  of  the  question ;  and  for  our  scurvy- 
riddled  crew,  a  nine  months'  winter  in  the  ice  of 
North  Baffin  would  have  been  disastrous. 

After  our  escape  from  the  congregated  bergs,  we 
sailovi  to  one  at  a  little  distance,  and  tilled  our  water- 
casks.  The  berg  crumbled  and  fell  while  we  won;  do- 
ing  so,  but  nobody  was  hurt ;  and  in  two  days  inorf, 
after  a  closing  skirmish  with  the  ice-pack,  wo  headed 
homeward.  On  the  twentieth  we  made  our  last  sal- 
utation to  the  Devil's  Thumb ;  and  on  the  twoiity- 
tliird,  in  the  evening,  we  were  near  enoun^h  to  T^ppor- 
navik  for  a  little  boating  party  of  us  to  make  it  a  visit. 

With  the  exception  of  Kangiartsoak,  this  is  the 
most  northern  of  the  Danish  settlements.  Its  latitude 
is  72°  47',  three  hundred  and  seventy  miles  within  the 
Arctic  circle.  But  reaching  it,  we  felt  as  if  we  had 
renewed  our  communication  ^th  the  world ;  for  here, 
once  in  every  year,  comes  the*olitary  trader  from  (Co- 
penhagen. We  had  become  so  familiar  with  the  drear- 
iness of  Greenland,  that  the  glaring  red  gables  of  the 


>^ 


» 


11 


606  THE    aOVEKKOK's    M.«».0«. 

„„J  the  white  curiosity,  which  stooJ  f-r 
three  houses,  ■'"J  *«  J^„^  ^,,,  absolutely  cheetu.g 
a  steeple  above  the  churc^^  ^^^^  ^^^,^,^  ,„,,    , 

«„d  we  lanae.1  P<>°'  J"'^^' „,,,  kicked  among  the 

''"J::^plt»e„tonce,„o.eJhe.o^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
to  V.ove„ ;  the  Dan.h^sh.p  had    .^^  ^^^ 

priest  had  gone  to  P'"';^'  „,  „  uiudly  wcl- 

l:ranO»teET:s':^1.  hospitalities  or.. 

mansion.  rp^^g  mansion  was  far 

from  picturesque.  It  was 

a  square  block  of  heavy 

timber,  running  nito  a 

high-peak  gable.      lUe 

roof  was  of  tarred  can- 

vas,  laid    over   boards; 

^^^^^^  ..^^  the  wooden  walls  coated 

^^^^^^^^  .   ^  _,i       A  little  paUng, 

.vith  tar,  and  painted  -.^1°-"' about  ttn  feet  of  pre 
.vhite  and  gardeu.hke  jndo^;'! ''^"^^^  ^^^^^^^, 

pared  soil,  77fj,:,tXst«'t  gathered  ou  ti.en,, 

which,  in  sp't'of*""?*'    v„,  of  orucilbrs,  green  r^ul- 
.ve  could  detect  a  few  buncle^o'        g„den,  the  d.^- 

i»Ues,  and  t'-'^P-'^P'.  "Tier's  residence, 
tinetive  appendage  "f .«'«  ^? "^       „,■  ,Uose  at  Di..;o 
Inside  the  house-.t   s    -      l^^.,„„,,ed  vestibule 


THE    FEAST. 


507 


tall,  black  cylinder,  such  as  I  have  seen  in  the  Baltic 
cities,  standing  like  a  column  in  the  corner :  the  next, 
a  platoon  of  tobacco-pipes  paraded  against  the  wall : 
the  next — let  me  be  honest,  it  was  the  first — a  table, 
with  a  clean  white  cloth,  and  plates,  knives,  and  forks, 
all  equally  clean.  Overhead  hang  beams  as  heavy 
as  the  carlines  of  a  ship's  cabin :  below  is  an  uncov- 
ered floor  of  scrupulous  polish :  the  windows  are  re- 
cessed, glazed  in  small  squares,  and  opening,  door-like, 
behind  muslin  curtains  :  the  walls  canvas,  painted, 
and  decorated  with  a  few  prints  altogether  remarkable 
for  intensity  of  color.  The  looking-glass ;  I  reserve  it 
for  more  special  mention.  It  was  not  very  large,  but 
it  was  the  first  we  had  encountered  since  we  came 
into  the  regions  of  ice.  "  To  see  ourselves  as  others 
see  us"  is  not  always  the  prayer  of  an  intelligent  self- 
love.  Sharp-visaged,  staring,  weather-beaten  old  men, 
wrinkle-marked,  tawny-baarded,  haggard-iooking:  the 
boys  of  Uppernavik  are  better  bred  than  the  New  York- 
ers, or  they  would  have  mobbed  us. 

The  ladies — they  were  ladies,  they  knew  no  superi- 
ors ;  they  were  self-possessed,  hospitable ;  they  wore 
frocks,  and  they  did  not  laugh  at  us — the  ladies  spread 
the  meal,  coffee,  loons'  eggs,  brown  bread,  and  a  wel- 
come. We  ate  like  jail-birds.  At  last  came '  He  crown- 
ing act  of  hospitality ;  on  the  bottom  of  a  blue  saucer, 
radiating  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  or  the  sticks  of  a 
Dehiware's  camp-fire,  crisp,  pale,  yet  blushing  at  their 
tips,  and  crowned  each  with  its  little  verdant  tuft — 
ten  radishes  f  Talk  of  the  mango  of  Luzon  and  the 
nmngostiue  of  Borneo,  the  oherimoya  of  Peru,  the  pine 
of  Sumatra,  the  seckel-pear  of  Schuylkill  meadows ; 
but  the  palate  must  cease  to  have  a  memory  before  I 
yield  a  place  to  any  of  them  alongside  the  ten  radishes 
of  Uppernavik. 


508 


THE     KAYAOK. 


On  tlie  twenty-fiftli  wc  reached  the  "Wlmle-fisli 
Islands,  and  at  six  in  the  evening  were  near  enough 
to  be  towed  in  Ly  our  boats  and  anclior  off  Kronpfin- 
sen.  Flocks  of  kayacks  hung  about  our  vessel,  like 
birds  about  a  floating  spar.  We  thought  tlieni  more 
sprightly  and  active  than  the  Es<piiniaux  we  had  1  teen 
among ;  but  perhaps  it  is  as  unfair  to  judge  of  the  Es- 
quimaux without  his  kayack  as  of  a  sloth  off  his  tree. 
There  was  a  bright  boy  among  them,  under  ten  years 
of  age,  Avho  could  manage  a  little  craft  they  had  built 
for  him  admirably. 

The  common  length  of  the  kayack  is  about  eight- 
teen  feet,  its  breadth  on  deck  some  twenty-one  inches 
and  its  depth  ten  inches  in  the  middle,  just  such  as  to 
allow  its  occupant  to  sit  with  his  feet  extended  on  the 
bottom  and  his  hips  below  the  deck. 

Its  frame  is  light  enough  to  startle  all  our  notions 
of  naval  construction,  and  it  is  covered  with  nothing 
but  tanned  seal-hide.  Yet  in  this  egg-shell  fabric  the 
Esquimaux  luivigator  habituaily,  and  fearlessly,  and 
successfully  too,  v«incounters  risks  which  his  more  civ- 
ilized rivals  in  the  seal-hunt,  the  men  of  New  Bedford 


and  Stonington,  would  righlfuUy  shrink  from.  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  can  make  su('h  a  description  of  ifs  pro- 
portions and  structure  as  a  tdiip-builder  would  under- 
stand ;  but  the  drawings  I  annex  have  been  made 
carefully  from  one  of  the  best  models,  and  maybe  re- 
lied on  for  all  the  information  that  cim  be  gathered 
firoiu  them. 


ITS    CONSTRUCTION. 


509 


The  skeleton  consists  ol"  three  hnigitiidinal  strips  of 
wood  on  each  side — it  would  be  wrong  to  call  them 
timbers,  for  they  are  rarely  thicker  than  a  common 
plastering  lath  —  stretching  from  end  to  end,  and 
shieldetl  at  the  stem  and  stern  by  cutwaters  of  bone. 
The  upper  of  these,  the  gunwale,  if  I  may  call  it  so,  is 
somewhat  stouter  than  the  others. 
The  bottom  is  framed  by  three  sim- 
ilar longitudinal  strips.  These  are 
crossed  by  other  strips  or  hoops, 
wliich  perform  the  office  of  knees  and  ribs :  they  are 
placed  at  a  distance  of  not  more  than  eight  to  ten 
inches  from  one  another.  Wherever  the  parts  of  this 
frame- work  meet  or  cross,  they  are  bound  together 
with  reindeer  tendon  very  artistically.  The  g(uieral 
outline  is,  I  think,  given  accurately  in  the  sketch  on 
the  opposite  page. 

Over  this  little  basket-work  of  wood  is  stretched  the 
coating  of  seal  hides,  which  also  covers  the  deck,  very 
neatly  sewed  with  tendon,  and  firmly  glued  at  the 
edges  by  a  composition  of  reindeer  horn  scraped  and 
liquefied  in  oil.  A  Atirnish  made  of  the  same  mate- 
rials is  used  to  protect  the  whole  exterior. 

The  pah,  or  man-hole,  as  we  would  term  it,  is  very 


510 


THE    IMPLEMENTS. 


nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  little  vessel,  soiuetimes  a 
few  inches  tovmrd  the  stern.  It  is  circular  or  nearly 
so,  wide  enough  to  let  the  kayacker  squeeze  his  hips 
through  it,  and  no  more.  It  has  a  riui  or  lip,  secured 
upon  the  gunwale,  and  rising  a  couple  of  inches  above 
the  deck,  so  as  to  permit  the  navigator  to  bind  it  wa- 
ter-tight around  his  person.  Immediately  in  front  of 
him  is  his  as-say-leut,  or  line  stand,  surmounted  by  a 
reel,  with  the  sealing-line  snugly  coiled  about  it,  and 
revolving  on  its  centre  with  the  slightest  touch.  He 
has  his  harpoon  and  his  lances  strapped  at  his  side; 
his  rifle,  if  he  owns  one,  stowed  away  securely  be. 
tween  decks. 

Just  behind  the  kayacker  rests  his  bladder- float  or 

air-bag,  an  air-tight  sack  of 
seal-skin,  always  kept  inflat- 
ed, and  fastened  to  the  sealing- 
line.  It  performs  the  double 
office  of  a  buoy,  and  a  bnnik 
or  drag  to  retard  tha  motion  of  the  prey  after  it  is 
struck. 

The  harpoon,  or  principal  lance  (unahh),  is  also  at- 


I  bi. 


tached  to  the  sealing-line.     It  is  a  most  ingenious  de- 
vice.    The  rod  or  staff"  is  divided  at  right  angles  in 

two  pieces,  which 
are  neatly  jointed 
or  hinged  with  ten- 
don strips,  but  so  braced  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
tendon  is  made  to  cross  and  bind  in  the  lashing,  that, 
except  when  the  two  parts  are  severed  by  lateral  press- 
ure, they  form  but  a  single  shaft.     The  point,  gener- 


P^ttce,  but 
Thu.s,  vvlie 
shaft  e.scjin 
*''e  grain  ] 
carriod  froe 
■^t  the  ri 

^"s  staff,  u  , 


fi*s  itself  on  tl 
a  good  frrip  J 
i^om  it,  and  i 
drawing  back 


OF    THE     KAYACKER. 


611 


ally  an  arrow-head  of 
bone,  lias  a  socket  to 
receive  the  end  of  the 
A  shaft:  it  disenj^nges  it- 
self  readily  from  its 
place,  but  still  remains  fast  to  the  end  of  tiio  line. 
Thus,  when  the  kayacker  has  struck  his  prey,  the 
shaft  escHpes  the  risk  of  breaking  from  a  pull  Hgainst 
the  gniin  by  bending  at  the  joint,  and  the  point  is 
carried  free  by  the  animal  as  he  dives. 

At  the  riglit  centre  of  gravity  ol'  the  harpoon,  that 
point,  I  mean,  at  which  a  cudgel-player  would  grasp 
his  staff,  u  neatly-arranged  restiis  or  holder  [noon-sok) 


OUTKinE   UK    IIAIK    jy   THE    >00\-.sOK. 


IIB. 


l.talDE   OB    SECTION    OK   THE    NOn,\-SOK. 


fits  itself  on  the  shaft.  It  serves  to  give  the  kayacker 
a  good  grip  when  casting  his  weapon,  but  slides  off 
from  it,  and  is  left  in  the  hand,  at  the  moment  of 
drawing  back  his  arm.     The  bird  javelin  {neti-ve-ak), 


ain. 


«I^ 


the  seal  lanc(!  (ah-gnu-ve-to),  and  the  rude  hun<  ing-knife 


[ka-poot),  will  be  easily  understood  from  my  sketches. 


ti». 


512 


THE    KATACKGR. 


The  paddle  (pa-uh-teet),  about  which  a  knowing 
Eiiquimaux  will  waste  as  many  words  as  a  sporting 
gentleman  upon  a  double-barreled  Manton  or  a  bridle- 
bit  of  peculiar  fancy,  is  in  every  respect  a  beautifully 
considered  instrument.  It  never  exceeds  seven  feet 
in  length.  It  is  double-bladed,  and  its  central  por- 
tion, which  receives  the  hands,  presents  an  ellipsoid 
face,  well  adapted  to  a  secure  grasp.  The  blades  are 
four  inches  in  width,  and  some  two  feet  in  length, 
forming  very  nearly  sections  of  a  cone.  Their  edges 
and  tips  are  carefully  guarded  from  the  cutting  action 
of  the  ice  by  the  ivory  of  the  walrus  or  narwhal. 

Thus  constructed  and  furnished,  its  seal-skin  cover- 
ing renewed  every  year,  the  kayack  is  the  life,  and 
pastime,  and  pride  of  its  owner.  He  carries  it  on  his 
shoulder  into  the  surf,  clad  in  his  water-proof  seal-skin 
dress,  belted  close  round  the  neck,  his  hood  firmly  set 
above ;  wedges  himself  into  the  man-hole,  unites  him- 
self by  a  lashing  to  its  rim,  and  paddles  off  for  a  frolic 
outside  the  breakers,  or  it  may  be  a  seal-hunt,  or  to 
throw  his  javelin  at  the  eider,  or  perhaps  to  carry  dis- 
patches to  some  distant  settlement,  or  to  take  part  in 
a  crusade  against  the  reindeer. 

In  their  long  excursions  in  search  of  deer,  the  ka- 
yackers  paddle  their  way  to  the  nearest  portage  along 
the  coast,  and  shoulder  their  little  skiff  till  they  reach 
the  interior  lakes.  Their  dexterity  is  admirable  in  the 
use  of  their  weapons.  I  have  seen  them  spear  the  eider 
on  the  wing  and  the  loon  as  he  was  diving.  Scud- 
ding along  at  a  rate  equal  to  that  of  a  five-oared  whale- 
boat,  they  fling  their  tiny  javelin  far  ahead,  and,  with- 
out interrupting  their  progress,  seize  it  as  they  pa.ss. 

The  authorities  of  Greenland  communicate  con- 
stantly with  their  different  posts  by  means  of  the  ka- 


yack. 

travel  i; 

ar3  exf 

only  di 

well-rei 

and  lai 

rook,  ai 

self  one 

ing  ove 

port  aga 

messenf 

there  fr 

miles  in 

with  vai 

thirty-si; 

It  is  s 

as  you  p 

and  Lie) 

Holstein] 

Here  are 

illustrati 

man. 

Exten 

the  nortl 

M'hich  tl 

with  per] 

of  weatlj 

kayacks  i 

passag(!sj 

our  vess(f 

kayack 

proachei 

ing  hims| 

trough, 


HIS    DEXTERITY. 


513 


yock.  On  these  occasions  the  express  consists  of  two, 
traveling  together  for  assistance  and  fellowship.  They 
ar  3  expeditious,  and  proverhially  reliable.  They  travel 
only  during  the  day.  At  night  they  land  upon  some 
well-reinenibered  solitude ;  the  kayack  is  carried  up, 
and  laid  beside  the  leeward  face  of  some  protecting 
rock,  and,  after  a  scanty  meal,  the  Hosky  seats  him- 
self once  more  in  its  closely-fitting  hole;  then,  draw- 
ing over  him  his  water-tight  hood,  he  leans  for  sup- 
port against  the  naked  stone,  and  sleeps.  One  of  these 
messengers  arrived  at  Holsteinberg  while  we  were 
there  from  Fredericfeliaab,  three  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  in  ten  days ;  traveling  along  a  tempestuous  coast, 
with  varying  winds  and  currents,  at  a  mean  rate  of 
tliirty-six  miles  a  day. 

It  is  said  the  expertness  of  the  kayacker  increases 
as  you  proceed  south.  If  the  natives  of  Julianshaab 
and  Lichtenfels  surpass  those  of  Egedesminde  and 
Holsteinberg,  their  feats  are  unnecessarily  wonderful. 
Here  are  some  of  them,  not  performed  as  such,  but 
illustrating  the  accomplishments  of  a  well-trained 
man. 

Extending  out  from  an  offsetting  mountain-ridge  to 
the  north  of  Holsteinberg,  is  a  rocky  reef  or  ledge,  over 
which  the  sea  breaks  heavily,  and  the  currents  run 
with  perplexing  caprice  and  force.  In  almost  all  sorts 
of  weather,  if  there  be  only  light  enough  to  see,  the 
kayacks  may  be  met  playing  about  these  surf-beaten 
passages,  regardless  of  wind,  swell,  or  tides.  When 
our  vessel  was  entering  port,  we  were  boarded  by  a 
kayack  pilot.  In  spite  of  the  heavy  seaway,  he  ap- 
preached  fearlessly  to  the  side  of  the  brig,  then,  pois- 
ing himself  on  the  slope  of  the  waves,  he  avoided  the 
trough,  and,  passing  a  running  bowline  fore  and  aft 


\ 


j> 


614 


FEATS    OF    THE     KAYACKER. 


over  his  little  craft,  man  and  boat  were  lifted  bodily 
on  board. 

Going  out  to  seaward,  with  a  heavy  inshore  surf 
rolling,  is  no  trifle,  even  to  well-manned  whale  boats 
The  kayticker  paddles  quietly  out  toward  the  break- 
ers. The  roaring  lip  of  green  water  >/;r.iis  roof  like 
over  him.  Down  cowers  the  p'iant  man,  his  right 
shoulder  buried  in  the  water,  and  his  hooded  head 
bowed  upon  his  breast.  An  instant  and  he  emerges 
on  the  outer  side  with  a  jutting  impulse,  shaking  the 
water  from  his  mane,  and  preparing  for  a  fresh  en- 
counter. 

The  somerset,  the  "  cantrum,"  as  the  whalers  tenn 
it,  may  be  seen  any  hour  of  the  day  for  a  plug  of  to- 
bacco or  a  glass  of  rum.  I  have  seen  it  wich  dilferent 
degrees  of  address  ;  but  one,  that  Mr.  Miiller,  the  gov- 
ernor of  llolsteinberg,  told  me  of,  is  the  perfection  of 
dextrous  overturning.  The  kayacker  takes  a  stone, 
OS  large  as  he  can  grasp  in  his  hand,  holding  the  pad- 
dle by  the  imperfect  grip  of  the  thumbs.  He  whirls 
his  hands  over  his  head,  upsets  his  little  bark,  buries 
it  bottom  up,  and  rights  himself  on  the  other  side, 
still  holding  the  stone. 

But  after  all,  the  crowning  feat  is  the  every-day 
one  of  catching  the  seal.  For  this  the  kayack  is  con- 
structed, and  it  is  here  that  its  wonderful  adaptation 
of  purpose  is  best  displayed.  Without  describing  the 
admirable  astuteness  with  which  he  finds  and  ap- 
proaches his  prey,  let  us  suppose  the  kayacker  close 
upon  a  seal.  The  line-stand  is  carefully  examined,  the 
coil  adjusted,  the  attachments  to  the  body  of  the  boat 
BO  fixed  that  the  slightest  strain  will  separate  them. 
The  bladder-float  is  disengaged,  and  the  harpoon  tipped 
with  its  barb,  which  forms  the  extremity  of  the  coil. 


HTS    SEAL    HUNT. 


515 


In  nn  instant  the  kayacker  has  thrown  hi**  body 
back  and  .«iit  his  weapon  home.  Wiiirr!  goes  the 
little  coil,  anii  the  float  is  bobbing  over  the  water — 
not  far,  hov  ever,  for  the  barb  has  entered  the  lungs, 
and  thr  ^  !al  Uiust  ri:-c  for  breath.  Now  tiie  harpoon 
is  picked  up,  is  head  remaining  in  the  victim;  and 
the  knyack  coiucs  along.  IIe'"o  is  required  discretion 
as  well  us  address.  The  hunter  has  probably  but  two 
weapons,  a  lanco  and  a  knife.  The  latter  he  can  not 
part  with,  and  even  the  lance  brings  him  to  closer 
quarters  than  the  safety  of  his  craft  would  invite;  for 
the  contortions  of  a  large  seal  thus  wounded  may  tear 
it  at  some  of  the  seams,  and  the  merest  c^revice  is  cer- 
tain destruction.  If  iie  has  with  him  the  light  javelin 
which  he  uses  for  spearing  birds,  he  may  be  tenijjted 
to  employ  it  now ;  but  this,  I  believe,  is  not  altogether 
sportsmanlike. 

This  occasional  tendency  of  the  ice-raft  to  float 
across  the  bay  has  given  rise  to  some  fearful  accidents. 
It  would  be  difficult  for  fiction  to  exceed  some  of 
the  stories  that  are  well  authenticated  of  those  poor 
nomads. 

Esquimaux  who  have  gone  out  with  kayack  or 
sledn-e  have  been  mourned  as  dead.  Years  afterward 
messages  have  come  by  the  whalers  of  their  safety  in 
the  unknown  regions  of  the  West,  and  of  their  adop- 
tion there  ;  but  after  trials  too  fearful  to  be  recounted. 
Some  yc.irs  ago — the  year  was  mentioned,  but  I  have 
forgot  it — a  couple  of  Esquimaux,  relatives,  set  out  on 
a  sledge  in  quest  of  seal.  The  great  ice-plain  formed 
one  continuous  sheet  from  the  Greenland  shore  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach.  During  the  night,  one  of 
them,  awaking  from  a  heavy  sleep,  found  that  the  wind 
had  shifted  to  the  eastward.     It  was  blowing  gentlv. 


516 


CONCLUSION. 


and  could  hardly  have  been  blowing  long.  They  har- 
nessed in  their  dogs,  urged  them  to  their  utmost  speed, 
and  made  for  the  land  they  had  left.  Too  late!  a 
yawning  chasm  of  open  water  lay  already  between. 
A  day  was  lost  in  frantic  despair.  It  blew  a  gale,,  an 
offshore  southeaster.  The  fog  rose,  the  wind  still  from 
the  east:  the  shore  was  gone. 

The  story  is  a  wild  one.  They  reharnessed  the  dogs, 
and  turned  to  the  west,  one  hundred  and  thirty  track- 
less miles  of  ice  before  them.  On  the  third  day  the 
dogs  gave  out :  one  of  the  lost  men  killed  his  fellow, 
and  revived  the  animals  with  his  flesh.  The  wretch- 
ed survivor  at  last  reached  the  North  American  shore 
about  Merchant's  Bay.  Years  afterward,  this  account 
came  over  by  a  circuitous  channel  to  the  Greenland 
settlement.  He  had  married  a  new  wife,  had  a  new 
family,  a  new  home,  a  new  country,  from  which,  had 
he  desired  it  r^ever  so  much,  there  could  be  for  him 
no  return. 

The  traditions  of  all  the  settlements  have  tales  of 
similar  disaster.  Yet  the  Esquimaux  are  a  happy  race 
of  people,  happy  so  far  as  content  and  an  ehistic  tem- 
perament go  to  make  up  happiness. 

We  loft  the  settlements  of  Baffin's  Bay  on  tho  Cth 
of  September,  1851,  grateful  exceedingly  to  tho  kind- 
hearted  officers  of  the  Danish  posts;  and  after  a  run  of 
some  twenty-four  days,  unmarked  by  incident,  touch- 
ed our  native  soil  again  at  New  York.  Our  noble 
friend,  Henry  GrinncU,  was  the  first  to  welcome  us  on 
the  pier-head. 


D 

In  the 
special  or 
conduct  a 
Sir  John  ] 

Thi.s  Se 
New  Yorl^ 
several  st 
row.s  amid 
the  .steani- 

Tlie  paj 

Elisliii  Ken 
Isaac  I.  ll.i 
AVilliam  M 

Will,  m  Godll 
Schubert,  ThJ 

The  hisl 
the  return, 
rank  as  tj 
work  in 
inenco  wl 
stands  in| 
equally  ei 
The    follol 
can  oiily  4 
and  a  fewl 


UAKPOONrao  SEALS. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
DR.  KANE'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1852,  Dr.  Kane  received 
gpecial  orders  from  le  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  "to 
conduct  an  expedition  to  the  A'ct'n  seas,  in  search  of 
Sir  John  Frankhn." 

This  Second  Expedition,  in  the  brig  "  Advance,"  left 
New  York  on  the  30th  day  of  May,  1853,  escorted  by 
several  steamers ;  and,  passing  slowly  on  to  the  Nar- 
rows amid  salutes  and  cheers  of  farewell,  cast  of!"  from 
the  steam-tug  and  put  to  sea. 

The  party,  all  told,  consisted  of  eighteen  persons : 

Elislia  Ki'iU  Kane,  Commander.     Henry  Brooks,  First  Oflli'ur. 
Isaac  I.  Hayes,  Surgeon.  August  Sontag,  Astronomer. 

William  Morton,  James  McOary,  John  W.  Wilson,  Amos  Bonsall. 
Gt'oi-ge  lliley,  George  Stephenson,  Christian  Ohlscn,  Ge()rg(>  Whipple, 
Will,  in  Godfrey,  Henry  Goodfbllow,  John  Blake,  Jeflerson  Baker,  Peter 
Schubert,  Thomas  Hickcy. 

The  history  of  this  Expedition  was  published  after 
the  return  of  its  surviving  members,  and  at  once  took 
rank  as  the  most  interesting  and  most  fiiscinating 
work  in  the  catalogue  of  Arctic  literature — an  em- 
inence which  it  to-day  enjoys.  Although  Dr.  Kane 
stands  in  the  front  rank  of  Arctic  adventurers,  his 
equally  eminent  success  as  an  author  is  unquestioned. 
The  following  extracts  from  "Arctic  Explorations" 
can  oi;ly  serve  to  give  the  outlines  of  the  expedition, 
and  a  few  of  the  experiences  of  the  party :        • .   . 

519 


I! 


620 


DR.  Kane's  second  expedition. 


"  "We  entered  the  harbor  of  Fiskemaes  on  the  1  st  of 
July,  amid  tlie  chinior  of  its  entire  population,  assem- 
bled on  the  rocks  to  greet  us.  This  place  has  an  en- 
viable reputation  for  climate  and  health.  Except  per- 
haps Ilolsteinberg,  it  is  the  dryest  station  upon  the 
coast ;  and  the  springs  which  well  through  the  mosses, 
frequently  remain  unfrozen  throughout  the  year. 

"  We  found  Mr.  Lassen,  the  superintending  ollicial  of 
the  Dani.sh  Company,  a  hearty,  single-minded  man, 
fond  of  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  pipe.  The  visit 
of  oiu'  Ijrig  was,  of  course,  an  incident  to  be  marked  in 
the  simple  annals  of  his  colony ;  and,  even  before  I 
had  shown  him  my  official  letters,  from  the  Court  of 
Denmark,  ho  had  most  hospitably  proffered  everything 
for  our  acconnnodation. 

"Feeling  tlu-t  our  dogs  would  require  fresh  provis- 
ions, which  coidd  hardly  be  spared  from  our  supplies  on 
shipboard,  I  availed  myself  of  Mr.  Lassen's  influence 
to  ob^iin  an  Escjuimaux  hunter  for  our  party.  He 
recommended  to  me  one  Hans  ^"  nstian,  a  boy  of  nine- 
teen, as  an  expert  with  the  kayak  and  javelin ;  and 
after  Hans  had  given  me  a  touch  of  his  quality  by 
spearing  a  bird  on  the  wing,  I  engaged  him.  He  was 
fat,  good-natured,  and,  except  under  the  excitements' 
of  the  hunt,  as  stolid  and  unimpressible  as  one  of  our 
own  Indians. 

"Bidding  good-liye  to  the  governor,  whose  hospital- 
ity we  had  shared  liberally,  we  put  to  sea  on  Saturday, 
the  10th,  })eating  to  the  northward  and  westward  in 
the  teeth  of  a  heavy  gale. 

"  On  the  10th  we  passed  the  promontory  of  Swarte- 
huk,  and  were  welcomed  the  next  day  at  Pro\  en  by 
my  old  friend  Christiansen,  the  superintendent,  and 
found   his^  family  much  as  I  left  them   three  years 


FASTENKD  TO  AS   ICEBERa. 


FAKTIKO  nAWBKRS   OFF   GOOIiSESP   LFDOK. 


;| 


before.  F: 
man,  and  i 
a  Danish 
patient,  Ar 
quimaux,  a 
Madame  ( 
many  otlic 
warni-hean 

"  August 
small  rotte 
now  be  car 
to  the  nort 

«  2  A.  M. 
has  begun 
around  us,  i 
south.  At  I 
line  to  be  ( 
four  hours' 
is  a  movinfj 
it  keeps  its 
loose  ice  dv 
water  for  a 

"About 
and,  esp3'in 
weigh,  and 
The  men  \ 
the  (Iocs  in 

"  On  our 
spectacle,  v 
have  made 
over  the  n 
"  fast  friend 
part  of  its  i 
great  respl 
and  rubies  i 


DR.   KANE  S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 


523 


before.  Frederick,  his  son,  had  married  a  native  wo- 
man, and  added  a  summer  tent,  a  half-breed  boy,  and 
a  Danish  rifle  to  his  stock  of  vahiables.  My  former 
patient,  Anna,  had  united  fortunes  with  a  fatrfaced  Es- 
quimaux, and  was  the  mother  of  a  chul)l)y  little  girl. 
Madame  Christiansen,  who  coimted  all  these  and  so 
many  others  as  her  happy  progeny,  was  hearty  and 
warm-hearted  as  ever. 

"August  1.  Beset  thoroughly  with  drifting  ice, 
sm.all  rotten  floe-i)iece3.  But  ibr  our  berg,  we  would 
now  be  carried  to  the  south  ;  as  it  is,  we  drift  with  it, 
to  the  north  and  cast. 

"  2  A.  M.  The  continued  pressure  against  our  berg 
has  begun  to  aft'ect  it ;  and,  like  the  great  Hoc  all 
around  us,  it  has  takin  up  its  line  of  march  toward  the 
south.  At  the  risk  of  being  entangled,  I  ordered  a  ligho 
line  to  be  carried  out  to  a  much  larger  berg,  and,  after 
four  hours'  labor,  made  fast  to  it  securely.  This  l)erg 
is  a  moving  breakwater,  and  of  gigantic  proportions: 
it  keeps  its  course  steadily  toward  the  north,  while  the 
loose  ice  drifts  by  on  each  side,  leaving  a  wake  of  black 
water  for  a  mile  behind  us. 

"About  10  r.  M.  the  iuuncdiate  danger  was  past; 
and,  espying  a  lead  to  the  noitheast,  we  got  under 
weigh,  and  pushed  over  in  spite  of  the  drifting  trash. 
The  men  worked  with  a  will,  and  we  bored  through 
the  floes  in  excellent  style. 

"On  our  road  we  were  favored  with  a  gorgeous 
spectacle,  which  hardly  any  excitement  of  peril  could 
have  made  us  overlook.  The  midnight  sun  came  out 
over  the  northern  crest  of  the  great  berg,  our  late 
"  fast  friend,"  kindling  variously-colored  fires  on  every 
part  of  its  surface,  and  making  the  ice  around  us  one 
great  resplendency  of  gcmwork,  blazing  carbuncles, 
and  rubies  and  molten  gold. 

31 


624 


ARCTIC   PILLARS   OF   nERCULES. 


**  August  6.  Cape  Alexander  and  Capo  Isabella,  the 
headland  ^f  Smith's  Sound,  are  now  in  sight ;  on 
the  righ  /e  have  an  array  of  cliffs,  whose  frowning 
grandeur  might  dignify  the  entrance  to  the  proudest 
of  southern  seas.  T  should  say  they  would  average 
from  four  to  five  hundred  yards  in  height,  with  some 
of  their  precipices  eight  hundred  feet  at  a  single  step. 
They  have  been  until  now  the  Arctic  pillars  of  Hercu- 
les ;  and  they  look  down  on  us  as  if  they  challenged 
our  right  to  pass.  Even  the  sailors  are  impressed,  as 
we  move  under  their  dark  shadow. 

"August  20.  By  Saturday  morning  it  blew  a 
perfect  hurricane.  We  had  seen  it  coming,  and  were 
ready  with  three  good  hawsers  out  ahead,  and  all 
things  snug  on  board. 

"  Still  it  came  on  heavier  and  heavier,  and  the  ice 
began  to  drive  more  wildly  than  I  thought  I  had  ever 
seen  it.  I  had  just  turned  in  to  warm  and  dry  myself 
during  a  momentary  lull,  and  was  stretching  myself 
out  in  my  bunk,  when  I  heard  the  sharp  twanging 
snap  of  a  cord.  Our  six-inch  hawser  had  parted,  and 
we  were  swinging  by  the  two  others ;  the  gale  roaring 
like  a  lion  to  the  southward. 

"  Half  a  minute  more,  and  '  twang,  twang ! '  came  a 
second  report.  I  knew  it  was  the  whale-line  by  the 
shrillness  of  the  ring.  Our  noble  ten-inch  manilla  still 
held  on.  I  Avas  hurrying  my  last  sock  into  its  seal- 
skin boot,  when  McGary  came  waddling  down  the 
companion-ladder : — '  Captain  Kane,  she  won't  hold 
much  longer:  it's  blowmg  the  devil  himself,  and  I  am 
afraid  to  surge.' 

"  The  manilla  cable  was  proving  its  excellence  when 
I  reached  the  deck ;  and  the  crew,  as  they  gathered 
round  me  were  loud  in  its  praises.    We  could  hear  its 


deep 

the  r 

the  ( 

noise 

lowed 

ice,  a  I 

**B 

in  our 

■which 

was  a 

them ; 

be  das 

might  r 

the  stoi 

they  w( 

arated  J 

hopes  ri 

and  inti 

some  ui 

wind  af 

Almost 

Were  no| 

they  wel 

it  must 

"Just) 

berg  caj 

thought [ 

viJle  Bajl 

side  us, 

slope,  ani 

anxious  f 

tlie  pale] 

us  bravcj 

flanks,  J 


DR.   KANE  S   SECOND    EXPEDITION. 


525 


the  runnin<^-geiir  and  inoiininj^  ol'  th 


the  (leath-.song 


The 


strands 


deep  Eolian  chant,  swelling  through  all  the  rattle  of 

slirouds.  It  was 
gave  way,  with  the 
noise  of  a  shotted  gun  ;  and  in  the  smoke  that  fol- 
lowed their  recoil,  we  were  dragged  out  by  the  wild 
ice,  at  its  mercy. 

"  But  a  new  enemy  came  in  sight  ahead.  Directly 
in  our  way,  just  beyond  the  line  of  floe-ice  against 
which  we  were  alternately  sliding  and  thumping, 
was  a  group  of  bergs.  We  had  no  power  to  avoid 
them ;  and  the  only  question  was  whether  we  were  to 
be  dashed  in  pieces  against  them,  or  whether  they 
might  not  offer  us  some  providential  nook  of  refuge  from 
the  storm.  But,  as  we  nearcd  them,  we  perceived  that 
they  weie  at  some  distance  from  the  floe-edge, and  sep- 
arated from  it  by  an  interval  of  open  water.  Our 
hopes  rose,  as  the  gale  drove  us  toward  this  passage, 
and  into  it;  and  we  were  ready  to  exult,  when,  from 
some  unexplained  cause, — probably  an  eddy  of  the 
wind  against  the  lofty  ice-walls, — we  lost  our  headway. 
Almost  at  the  same  moment,  we  saw  that  the  bergs 
were  not  at  rest;  that  with  a  momentum  of  their  own 
they  were  bearing  down  upon  the  other  ice,  and  that 
it  must  be  our  fate  to  be  crushed  between  the  two. 

"Just  then,  abroad  sconce-piece  or  low  water-washed 
berg  came  driving  up  from  the  southward.  The 
thought  flashed  upon  me  of  one  of  our  escapes  in  Mel- 
ville Bay ;  and  as  the  sconce  moved  rapidly  close  along- 
side U.S,  McGary  managed  to  plant  an  anchor  on  its 
slope,  and  hold  on  to  it  by  a  whale-line.  It  was  an 
anxious  moment.  Our  noble  tow-horse,  whiter  than 
the  pale  horse  that  seemed  to  be  pursuing  us,  hauled 
us  bravely  on ;  the  spray  dashing  over  his  windward 
flanks,  and  his  forehead  ploughing  up  the  lesser  ice,  as 


623 


RENSSELAER    nAROOR. 


if  in  scorn.  The  bergs  encroached  upon  us  as  we  ad. 
vanced :  our  channel  narrowed  to  width  of  perhaps 
forty  feet:  we  braced  the  yards  to  clear  the  iuipeud- 
ing  ice-walls. 

"  We  passed  clear ;  but  it  was  a  close  shave, — so 
close  that  our  port  quarter-boat  would  have  been 
crushed  if  we  had  not  taken  it  in  Crom  the  davits, — and 
found  ourselves  under  the  lee  of  a  berg,  in  a  compara- 
tively open  lead.  Never  did  heart-tired  men  acknowl- 
edge with  more  gratitude  their  merciful  deliverance 
from  a  wretched  death." 

After  forcing  a  passage  for  a  week  longer,  with  a 
constant  repetition  of  the  scenes  just  described,  Dr. 
Kane  held  a  grand  council  with  his  officers,  and  with 
one  exception,  Henry  Brooks,  they  were  in  favor  of 
returning  southward  to  winter.  Not  being  able  to 
take  the  same  view,  Dr.  Kane  announced  his  intention 
of  working  towards  the  northern  headlan^  of  the  bay : 
once  there,  he  would  put  the  brig  into  winter  harbor 
at  the  first  suitable  place.  In  his  decision  they  all 
cheerfully  acquiesced.  Finally,  on  the  7th  of  Sep 
tembcr,  the  "  Advance "  was  anchored  in  Rensselaer 
Harbor,  and  by  the  10th,  was  firmly  frozen  in.  "  The 
same  ice  is  around  her  still." 

Preparations  for  the  winter's  residence  at  this  place 
were  at  once  commenced;  journeys  were  made 
towards  the  interior,  and  a  party  of  seven  men  set 
off  September  20th,  dragging  a  sledge  load  of  pcni- 
mican,  to  establish  the  first  of  a  chain  of  provision  de- 
pots along  th^!  coast,  for  the  benefit  of  exploring  par- 
ties to  be  sent  out  the  next  spring.  On  the  10th  of 
October,  Kane  with  a  dog  team,  and  Blake  on  skates, 
started  off  to  look  for  the  absent  party,  who  had  not 
returned  when  expected. 


"lia^tr  'f.^v. 


nV    .     iKADLAND. — INSFICTINQ  A  lUBBOB. 


KENS8KLAER   IIAKBOK. 


1 


1; 


1 


CAMP   ON   THE   FLOES. 


529 


"  On  the  morning  of  tlio  15th,  nbout  two  hours  be- 
fore the  liite  .sunrise,  as  I  was  pri'iJaring  to  climb  a 
berg  IVoin  which  I  might  hnve  a  sight  of  the  road 
ahead,  I  perceived  far  off  upon  the  white  snow  a  dark 
object,  which  not  only  moved,  but  altered  its  shape 
strange!}',  —  new  expanding  into  a  long  black  line, 
now  wav'ng,  now  gathering  itself  up  into  a  compact 
mass.  It  was  tlie  returning  sledge  party.  They  had 
seen  our  black  tent  of  Kedar,  and  ferried  across  to 
seek  it. 

'•  They  were  most  welcome  ;  for  their  absence,  in  the 
fer.rl'uUy  open  state  of  the  ice,  had  fdled  me  with 
a]>pr(hensions.  AVe  could  not  distinguish  each 
other,  as  we  drew  near  in  the  twilight;  and  my 
first  good  news  of  them  was  when  I  heard  that  they 
were  singing.  On  they  came,  and  at  last  I  Avas  able 
to  count  their  voices,  one  by  one.  Thank  God, seven! 
Poor  John  Blake  was  so  breathless  with  gratulation, 
that  I  could  not  get  liim  to  blow  his  signal-horn.  "We 
gave  them,  instead,  the  good  old  Anglo-Saxon  greet- 
ing, "  three  cheers ! "  and  in  a  few  minutes  were  among 
them.  •  ' 

"  They  liad  camped  one  night  \mder  the  lee  of  some 
large  icebergs,  and  within  hearing  of  the  grand  artil- 
lery of  the  glacier.  The  floe  on  which  their  tent  was 
pitched  was  of  recent  and  transparent  ice ;  and  the 
party,  too  tired  to  seek  a  safer  asylum,  had  turned  in 
to  rest;  when,  with  a  crack  like  the  snap  of  a  gigantic 
whip,  the  ice  opened  directly  beneath  them.  This  was, 
as  nearly  as  they  could  estimate  the  time,  at  about 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  darknes"  was  in,- 
tensc ;  and  the  cold,  about  10°  below  zero,  was  in- 
creased by  a  Aviud  which  blew  from  the  northeast  over 
the  glacier.     They  gathered  together  their  tent  and 


630 


CHRISTMAS  FESTIVITIES. 


sleeping  furs,  and  lashed  them  according  to  the  best 
of  their  ability,  upon  the  sledge. 

"Repeated  intonations  warned  them  that  the  ice  was 
breaking  up ;  a  swell,  evidently  produced  from  the  av- 
alanches from  the  glacier,  caused  the  platform  on 
which  they  stood  to  rock  to  and  fro. 

"  November  IG.  Poor  Hans  has  been  sorely  home- 
sick. Three  days  ago  he  bundled  up  his  clothes  and 
took  his  rifle  to  bid  us  all  good-bye.  It  turns  out  that  be- 
sides hisuiothcr,  there  is  another  one  of  the  softer  sex 
at  Fiskernaes  that  the  boy's  heart  is  dreaming  of  He 
looked  as  wretched  as  any  lover  of  a  milder  clime.  I 
hope  I  have  treated  his  nostalgia  successfully,  by  giv- 
ing him  first  a  dose  of  salts,  and  secondly,  ])romotion. 
He  lias  now  all  the  dignity  of  henchman.  He  har- 
nesses my  dogs,  builds  my  traps,  and  walks  >\  itli  me 
on  my  ice-tramps;  and,  except  hunting,  is  excused 
from  all  other  duty.  He  is  really  attached  to  me,  and 
as  happy  as  a  fat  man  ought  to  be. 

'December  15.  AVe  have  lost  tlie  last  vestige 
of  our  mid-day  twilight.  We  cannot  see  print,  and 
hardly  paper:  the  fingers  cannot  be  counted  a  foot 
from  the  eyes.  Noonday  and  midnight  are  alike,  and, 
except  a  vague  glimmer  on  the  sky  that  seems  to  de- 
fine the  hill  outline  to  the  south,  avc  have  nothing 
to  tell  us  that  this  Arctic  Avorld  of  ours  has  a  sun.  In 
one  week  more  we  shall  reach  the  midnight  of  the 
year, 

"  December  2G.  Our  anxieties  for  old  Grim  miiilit 
have  interfered  with  almost  any  thing  else  ;  but  thoy 
could  not  arrest  our  celebration  of  yesterday.  Dr. 
Hayes  made  us  a  well-studied  oration,  and  Morton  a 
capital  punch;  add  to  these  a  dinner  of  marled  l)ecf, 
—we  have  two  pieces  left,  for  the  sun's  return  and  the 


Four 

rount 

tered 

"Ji 

so  afl] 

that  I 

I  Wen  I 

not  pc 

glimiiK 

panes  c 

puzzled 

whatevi 

land  do; 

instantl; 

satis/act 

and  foi-I( 

of-f-lO^' 
ness,  ho\] 
them  of 
stinct  or 
or  to  ox 
the  I;in( 
_  "Feb 
silverjno- 
and  to-d 
of  my  j); 
est  walk 
iniprisuiu 
made  lilt 

iny  objeei 

jectiiio- 

batliino- 

"Man.l 
at  the  sJer 


II 


THE    RETURNING    SUN. 


531 


Fourtli  of  July, — and  a  bumper  of  champagne  all 
rouiKi ;  and  the  elements  of  our  frolic  are  all  regis- 
tered. 

*'  January  20.  This  morning  at  five  o'clock — ^for  I  am 
so  ailiicted  with  the  insomnium  of  this  eternal  night 
that  I  rise  at  any  time  between  midnight  and  noon — 
I  went  upon  deck.  It  Avas  absolutely  dark ;  the  cold 
not  permitting  a  swinging  lamp.  There  was  not  a 
glimmer  came  to  me  through  the  ice-crusted  v.indow- 
panes  of  the  cabin.  While  I  was  feeling  my  way,  half 
puz/.led  as  to  the  best  method  of  steering  clear  of 
whatever  might  be  before  me,  two  of  my  Newfound- 
land dogs  put  their  cold  noses  against  my  hand,  and 
instantly  conunenced  the  most  exuberant  antics  of 
satislaction.  It  then  occurred  to  me  how  very  dreary 
and  forlorn  must  these  poor  animals  be,  at  atmosphere 
of  +  IC  in-doors  and  — 50°  without, — living  in  dark- 
ness, howling  at  an  accidental  light,  as  if  it  reminded 
them  of  the  moon, — and  with  nothing,  either  of  in- 
stinct or  sensation,  to  tell  them  of  the  passing  hours, 
or  to  explain  the  long-lost  daylight.  They  shall  see 
the  lanterns  more  frequently. 

"  Febniary  1.  We  have  seen  the  sun,  for  some  days, 
silvering  the  ice  between  the  headlands  of  the  l)ay; 
and  to-day,  toward  noon,  I  started  out  to  be  tlie  tirst 
of  my  pai'ty  to  welcome  him  l)ack.  It  was  tlie  long- 
est walk  and  toughest  climb  that  I  have  had  since  our 
imprisonment;  and  scurvy  and  general  debility  have 
made  me '  short  o' wind.'  But  1  managed  to  attain 
my  object.  1  saw  him  once  more  ;  and  upon  a  pro- 
jecting crag  nestled  in  the  sunshine.  It  was  like 
bathing  in  ])erfumed  water. 

"Marcli  13.  Since  January,  we  have  been  working 
at  the  sledges  and  other  preparations  for  travel.     The 


682 


SUDDEN     ALARM. 


death  of  my  dogs,  the  rugged  obstacles  of  the  ice, 
and  the  intense  cold  have  ol^liged  mo  to  reorganize  our 
whole  equipment.  We  have  had  to  disciird  all  our 
India-rubber  fancy-work :  canvas  shoe-making,  fur- 
socking  sewing,  carpentering,  arc  all  going  on ;  and 
the  cabin,  our  only  fire-warmed  apartment,  is  the 
work-shop,  kitchen,  parlor,  and  hall. 

"Not  a  man  now,  except  Pierre  and  Morton,  is  ex- 
empt from  scurvy ;  and,  as  I  look  around  upon  the  pa?e 
faces  and  haggard  looks  of  my  comrades,  I  feel  that  we 
are  fighting  the  battle  of  life  at  disadvantage,  and  that 
an  Arctic  night  and  an  Arctic  day  ago  a  man  more 
rapidly  and  harshly  than  a  year  anywhere  else  in  all 
this  weary  world. 

"  March  20.  I  saw  the  depot  part}'  off  yesterday. 
They  gave  the  usual  three  cheers,  with  three  for  my- 
self. I  gave  them  the  whole  of  my  ])rother's  wed- 
ding calcc,  and  my  last  two  bottles  of  Port,  and  they 
pulled  the  sledge  vhey  Avere  harnessed  to  famoiisly. 
The  party  were  seen  by  McGaryfrom  aloft,  at  noon  to- 
day, moving  ea-siij^,  and  about  twelve  miles  from  the 
brig. 

"  We  were  at  work  cheerfully,  sewing  away  at  the 
skins  of  some  moccasins  by  the  l)laze  of  our  lamps, 
when,  toward  midnight  of  the  31st,  we  henrd  tiie  noise 
of  steps  above,  and  the  next  minute  Sonta^-,  Olilsen, 
and  Petersen  came  down  into  the  ca])in.  Their  man- 
ner startled  me  even  more  than  their  unexpected  ap- 
pearance on  board.  They  were  swollen  and  haggard, 
and  hardly  able  to  speak. 

Their  story  was  a  fearful  one.  They  had  left  their 
com])anions  in  the  ice,  risking  tin  ir  own  lives  to  Itring 
us  the  news :  Brotjks,  Baker,  Wilson,  imd  Pierre  were 
all  lying  frozen  and  disabled.     Where  ?     They  could 


IN    THE   TKNT. 


l.NNACLV    IIKlKi. 


! 


THE  RR8CUR  PABTT. 


not  t 

nortli 

when 

and  I 

agfiin 

They 

were 

hard! 

whicl 

"M 

an  111 

even 

on  m^ 

looke( 

his  lai 

ates,  I 

but  h 

with  1 

«T] 

were  ; 

a  hiiist 

lie"w 

pemm 

our  a 

bag,  h 

we  W( 

nine  i 

on  GUI 

"A 

men  tl 

other  i 

beadec 

ward; 

hours  1 


' 


LOST   ON   THE   FLOES. 


536 


not  tell :  somewhere  in  among  the  hummocks  to  the 
north  and  east;  it  was  drifting  heavily  round  them 
when  they  parted.  Irish  Tom  had  stayed  by  to  feed 
and  care  for  the  others ;  l)ut  the  chances  were  sorely 
against  them.  It  was  in  vain  to  question  them  further. 
They  had  evidently  traveled  a  great  distance,  for  they 
were  sinking  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  and  could 
hardly  be  rallied  enough  to  tell  us  the  direction  in 
which  they  had  come. 

*'  My  first  impidse  was  to  move  on  the  instant  with 
an  unencumbered  party :  a  rescue,  to  be  effective  or 
even  hopeful,  could  not  be  too  prompt.  What  pressed 
on  my  mind  most  was,  where  the  sufTcrers  wore  to  be 
looked  for  among  the  drifts.  Ohlsen  seemed  to  have 
his  facidties  rather  more  at  command  than  his  associ- 
ates, and  I  thought  that  he  might  assist  us  as  a  guide ; 
but  he  was  sinking  with  exhaustion,  and  if  he  went 
with  us  we  must  carry  him. 

"  There  was  not  a  moment  to  be  lost.  AYhile  some 
were  still  busy  with  the  new-comers,  and  getting  ready 
a  hasty  meal,  others  were  rigging  out  the  "  Little  Wil- 
lie "  with  a  buftlilo-cover,  a  small  tent,  and  a  package  of 
pemmican ;  and,  as  soon  as  we  could  hurry  through 
our  arrangements,  Ohlsen  was  strapped  on  in  a  fur 
bag,  his  legs  wrapped  indog-skinsandeider  down,  and 
we  went  off  upon  the  ice.  Our  party  consisted  of 
nine  men  and  myself  We  carried  only  the  clothes 
on  our  backs. 

"  A  well-known  peculiar  tower  of  ice,  called  by  the 
men  the  "  Pinnacly  Berg,"  served  as  our  first  landmark: 
other  icebergs  of  collossal  size,  which  stretched  in  long 
beaded  lines  across  the  bay,  helped  to  guide  us  after- 
ward ;  and  it  was  not  until  we  had  traveled  for  sixteen 
hours  that  we  began  to  lose  our  way. 


536 


THE    RESCUE   PARTY. 


"Pushing  ahead  of  the  pnrty,  and  clambering  over 
some  rugged  ice-piles,  L  came  to  a  long  level  floe,  which 
1  thought  might  probably  have  attracted  the  eyes  of 
weary  men  in  circumstances  like  our  own.  It  was  a 
light  conjectiu'e,  but  it  was  enough  to  turn  the  scale, 
for  there  was  no  other  to  balance  it.  I  gave  orders  to 
abandon  the  sledge,  and  disjierso  in  search  of  foot- 
marks. We  raised  our  tent,  placed  our  pemmican  in 
cache,  except  a  small  allowance  for  each  man  to  carry 
on  his  person ;  and  poor  Ohlsen,  now  just  able  to  keep 
his  legs,  was  liberated  from  his  bag.  The  thermome- 
ter had  fallen  by  this  time  to— 49°.3,  and  the  wind 
was  setting  in  sharply  from  the  northwest.  It  was 
out  of  the  question  to  halt :  it  required  brisk  exer- 
cise to  keep  us  from  freezing.  I  could  not  even  melt 
ice  for  water  ;  and,  at  these  temperatures,  any  resort 
to  snoAV  for  the  puipose  of  alliiying  thirst  was  fol- 
lowed Ijy  bloody  lips  and  tongue :  it  burnt  like 
cau^itic. 

"  It  was  indispensable  then  that  we  should  move  on, 
looking  out  f(jr  traces  as  we  went.  Yet  when  the  men 
were  ordered  to  spread  themselves,  so  as  to  multiply 
the  chances,  though  they  all  obeyed  heartily,  some 
painful  imjjress  of  solitary  danger,  or  perhaps  it  may 
have  been  the  varying  configuration  of  the  ice-field, 
kept  them  closing  up  contiiuially  into  a  single  group. 
The  strange  manner  in  which  some  of  us  wore  alfected 
I  now  attribute  as  much  to  shattered  nerves  as  to  the 
direct  inlhience  of  the  cold.  Men  like  McCrary  and 
Bonsall,  who  had  stood  out  our  severest  marches,  were 
seized  with  trembling  fits  and  short  breath  ;  and,  in 
spite  of  all  my  efforts  to  keep  up  an  example  of  sound 
bearing,  I  fainted  twice  on  the  snow. 

*'  We  had  been  nearly  eighteen  hours  out  without 


water 

it  was 

saw  a 

effaced 

whethe 

which  1 

we  tijK 

mocks, 

with  re] 

Americji 

down  a 

pole  Jiar 

disabled 


THE  WANDEKEllS   FOUND. 


537 


water  or  food,  when  a  new  hope  cheered  us.  I  think 
it  was  Hans,  our  Esquimaux  hunter,  who  thought  he 
saw  a  broad  sledge-track.  The  drift  had  nearly 
effaced  it,  and  we  were  some  of  us  doubtful  at  first 
whether  it  was  not  one  of  thoi^e  accidental  riils 
which  the  gales  make  in  the  surface  snow.  But,  as 
we  traced  it  on  to  the  deep  snow  among  the  hum- 
mocks, we  were  led  to  footsteps ;  and,  following  those 
with  religious  care,  we  at  last  came  in  sight  of  a  small 
American  Hag  fluttering  from  a  hummock,  and  lower 
down  a  little  Masonic  banner  hanging  from  a  tent- 
pole  hardly  above  the  drift.  It  was  the  camp  of  our 
disabled  comrades  :  we  reached  it  after  an  unbroken 
march  of  twenty-<me  hours. 

"  The  little  tent  was  nearlv  covered.  I  Avas  not  anions: 
the  first  to  come  up;  but,  when  I  reached  the  tent  cur- 
tain, the  men  wore  standing  in  silent  file  on  each  side 
of  it.  With  more  kindness  and  delicacy  of  feeling 
than  is  often  supposed  to  belong  to  sailors,  but  which 
is  almost  characteristic,  they  intimated  their  wish  that 
I  should  go  in  alone.  As  I  crawled  in,  and,  coming 
upon  the  darkness, heard  before  me  the  burst  of  welcome 
gladness  that  came  from  the  four  poor  fellows  strotciied 
on  their  backs,  and  then  for  the  first  time  the  cheer 
outside,  my  weakness  and  my  gratitude  together  al- 
most overcame  me.  "  They  had  expected  me  :  they 
were  sure  I  would  come !  " 

"  We  w'cre  now  fifteen  souls ;  the  thermometer  sev- 
enty-five degrees  below  the  freezing  point ;  and  our 
sole  accommodation  a  tent  barely  able  to  contain  eight 
persons :  more  than  half  our  party  were  obliged  to 
keep  from  freezing  by  walking  outside  while  the  oth- 
ers slept.  We  could  not  halo  long.  Each  of  us  took 
a  turn  of  two  hours'  sleep ;  and  we  prepared  for  our 
homeward  march. 


.  1 


538 


PERILS    OF   THE   RETURN. 


"We  took  with  us  notliingbut  the  tent,  furs  to  pro- 
tect the  rescued  party,  and  food  for  a  journey  of  fifty 
hours.  E\erything  else  was  abandoned.  Two  hirge 
buffalo-bags,  each  made  of  four  skins,  were  doubled 
up,  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  sack,  lined  on  each  side  by 
fur,  closed  at  the  bottom  but  opened  at  the  top.  This 
was  laid  on  the  sledge ;  the  tent,  smootldy  folded, 
serving  as  a  floor.  The  sick  with  their  limbs  sewed 
up  carefidly  in  reindeer-skins  wore  placed  upon  the 
bed  of  buffalo-robes,  in  a  halfi-eclining  posture  ;  other 
skins  and  blanket-bags  were  thrown  above  them ;  and 
the  whole  litter  was  lashed  together  so  as  to  allow  but 
a  single  opening  opposite  the  mouth  for  breathing. 

"  This  necessary  work  cost  us  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
effort ;  but  it  was  essential  to  the  lives  of  the  suffer- 
ers. It  took  us  no  less  than  four  hours  to  strip  and 
refresh  them,  and  then  to  enable  them  in  the  manner 
I  have  described.  It  was  completed  at  last,  however; 
all  hands  stood  round ;  and  after  repeating  a  short 
prayer,  we  set  out  on  our  retreat. 

"And  yet  our  march  for  the  first  six  hours  was  very 
cheering.  We  made  by  vigorous  pulls  and  lifts  nearly 
a  mile  an  hour,  and  reached  the  new  floes  before  we 
were  absolutely  weary.  Our  sledge  sustained  the 
trial  admirably.  Ohlsen,  restored  by  hope,  walked 
steadily  at  the  leading  belt  of  the  sledge-lines ;  and  I 
began  to  feel  certain  of  reaching  our  half-way  station 
of  the  day  before,  where  we  had  left  our  tent.  But 
we  were  still  nine  miles  from  it,  when,  almost  without 
premonition,  we  all  became  aware  of  an  alarming  fail- 
ure of  our  energies. 

"  Bonsall  and  Morton,  two  of  our  stoutest  men,  came 
to  me,  begging  permission  to  sleep :  "  they  were  not 
cold :  the  wind  did  not  enter  them  now :  a  little  sleep 


Was  a] 

nearly 

iiad  hit 

Jast,  Jo 

fused  to 

hut  it  w 

jV'ered,  ( 

be  avoid 

"We 
hands  wt 
obliged  t 
(whisky) 
the  cover 
Hans,  wit  J 
.  crowded  ii 
^ng  the  pai 
t'ome  on  i 
William  G 
ion.     My  .1 
some  ice  ai 
"The /Jo, 
I  cannot  U 
miles;  for 
bad   little 
about  four 
posing  on  e 
tbey  must 
these  hour; 
gone  tlirou, 
senses,  and 
what  precei, 
us,  however 
before  us  a; 
McGary  ha. 


MEN    GIVING    OUT. 


539 


was  all  they  wanted."  Presently  Hans  was  found 
nearly  stiff  under  a  drift ;  and  Thomas,  bolt  upright, 
had  his  eyes  closed,  and  could  hardly  articuhite.  At 
last,  John  Blake  threw  himself  on  the  snow,  and  re- 
fused to  rise.  They  did  not  complain  of  feeling  cold; 
but  it  was  in  vain  that  I  wrestled,  boxed,  ran,  argued, 
jeered,  or  reprimanded :  an  immediate  halt  could  not 
be  avoided. 

"We  pitched  our  tent  with  much  difficulty.  Our 
hands  were  tuo  powerless  to  strike  a  lire :  we  wore 
obliged  to  do  without  water  or  food.  Even  the  spirits 
(whisky)  had  fro/.on  at  the  men's  feet,  under  all 
the  coverings.  We  put  Bonsall,  Ohlsen,  Thomas,  and 
Hans,  with  the  other  sick  meu,  well  inside  the  tent,  and 
.  crowded  in  as  many  others  as  we  could.  Then,  leav- 
ing the  party  in  charge  of  ]Mr.  McGary,  with  orders  to 
come  on  after  four  hours'  rest,  I  pushed  ahead  with 
William  Godfrey,  who  volunteered  to  be  my  couipan- 
ion.  My  aim  was  to  reach  the  halfway  tent,  and  thaw 
some  ice  and  pemtuican  before  the  otiiers  arrived. 

"  The  floe  was  of  level  ice,  and  the  Avalking  excellent. 
I  cannot  tell  how  long  it  took  us  to  make  the  nine 
miles;  for  we  were  in  a  strange  sort  of  stupor,  and 
had  little  apprehension  of  time.  It  was  probably 
about  four  hours.  We  kept  ourselves  awake  by  im- 
posing on  each  other  a  continued  articulation  of  words; 
they  must  have  been  incoherent  enough.  I  recall 
these  hours  as  among  the  most  wretched  I  have  ever 
gone  through :  Ave  were  neither  of  us  in  our  right 
senses,  and  retained  a  very  confused  recollection  of 
what  preceded  our  arrival  at  the  tent.  We  both  of 
us,  however,  remember  a  bear,  who  walked  leisurely 
before  us  and  tore  up  as  he  went  a  jumper  that  Mr. 
McGary  had  improvidently  thrown  off  the  day  before. 


:!■ 


640 


A    BIVOUAC. 


He  tore  it  into  shreds  and  rolled  it  into  a  ball,  but 
never  offered  to  interfere  with  our  progress.  I  remem- 
ber this,  and  with  it  a  confused  scntiuiont  that  our  tent 
and  bullalo-robes  might  proljably  share  the  same  fate. 
Godfrey,  with  whom  the  memory  of  this  day's  work 
may  atone  for  many  faults  of  later  time,  had  a  better 
eye  than  myself;  and,  looking  some  miles  ahead,  he 
could  see  that  our  tent  was  undergoing  the  same  un- 
ceremonious treatment.  I  thought  I  saw  it  too,  but 
we  were  so  drunken  with  cold  that  we  strode  on 
steadily,  and,  for  aught  1  know,  without  quickening 
our  pace. 

"  Probably  our  approach  saved  the  contents  of  the 
tent;  for  when  we  reached  it  the  tent  Avas  uninjured, 
though  the  bear  had  overturned  it,  tossing  the  buffalo- 
robes  and  peramican  into  the  snow ;  we  missed  only  a 
couple  of  blanket-bogs.  What  we  recollect,  however, 
and  perhaps  all  we  recollect,  is,  that  we  had  great 
difficulty  in  raising  it.  We  crawled  into  our  reindeer 
sleeping- bags,  without  speaking,  and  for  the  next 
three  hours  slept  on  in  a  dreamy  but  intense  slum- 
ber. 

"  We  were  able  to  melt  water  and  get  some  soup 
cooked  before  the  rest  of  our  party  arrived  ;  it  took 
them  but  five  hours  to  walk  the  nine  miles.  They 
were  doing  well,  and  considering  the  circumstances,  in 
wonderful  spirits.  The  day  was  most  providentially 
windless,  with  a  clear  sun.  All  enjoyed  the  refresh- 
ment we  had  got  ready :  the  crippled  were  repacked 
in  their  robes ;  and  we  sped  briskly  toward  the  hum- 
mock ridges  which  lay  between  us  and  the  Pinnacly 
Berg. 

"  Our  halts  multiplied  and  we  fell  half-«leeping  on 
the  snow.   I  could  not  prevent  it.   Strange  to  say,  it  re- 


freshec 
makinf 
and  I 
men  in 
the  sle( 
Wakofiil 
«%( 
TJie  si(i-l 
an  invaJ 
served  c 
longer  r 
the  brio* 
«Isay 
cided  pro 
and  had 
the  circui 
in  a  dreai 
that  we  h 
have  beer 
on  the  me 
ftnd  reach 
fallen  ren 
vvith  punc 
him  to  Di 
Pe  terser 
two  miles 
with  the  r( 
not  reme 
judicious 
called    for, 
usual  fiicti 
from  strabi] 
amj)utatioi 
sequences  i 


RELIEF    FROM    THE    BRIG. 


641 


freshed  us.  I  ventured  upon  the  experiment  myself, 
making  Riley  wake  me  at  the  end  of  three  minutes ; 
and  I  felt  so  much  benefited  by  it  that  I  timed  the 
men  in  the  same  way.  They  sat  on  the  runners  of 
the  sledge,  fell  asleep  instantly,  and  were  forced  to 
wakef'iihioss  when  their  three  minutes  were  out. 

"  By  eight  in  the  evening  we  emerged  from  the  floes. 
The  sight  of  the  Pinnacly  Berg  revived  us.  Brandy, 
an  invaluable  resource  in  emergency,  had  already  bi'cn 
served  out  in  tablespoonful  doses.  We  now  took  a 
longer  rest,  and  a  last  but  stouter  dram,  and  reached 
the  brig  at  1  p.  m.,  we  believe  without  a  halt. 

"  I  say  we  believe ;  and  here  perhaps  is  the  most  de- 
cided proof  of  our  sufferings :  we  Avere  quite  delirious, 
and  had  ceased  to  entertain  a  sane  apprehension  of 
the  circumstances  about  us.  We  moved  on  like  men 
in  a  dre.'im.  Our  footmarks  seen  afterward  showed 
that  we  had  steered  a  bee-line  for  the  brig.  It  must 
have  been  by  a  sort  of  instinct,  for  it  left  no  impress 
on  the  memory.  Bonsall  was  sent  staggering  ahead, 
and  reached  the  brig,  God  knows  how,  for  he  had 
fallen  repeatedly  at  the  track-lines ;  but  he  delivered 
with  punctilious  accuracy  the  messages  I  had  sent  by 
him  to  Dr.  Hayes. 

Petersen  and  Whipple  came  out  to  meet  us  about 
two  miles  from  the  brig.  They  brought  my  dog-team, 
with  the  restoratives  I  had  sent  for  by  Bonsall.  I  do 
not  remember  their  coming.  Dr.  Hayes  entered  with 
judicious  energy  upon  the  treatment  our  condition 
called  for,  administering  morphine  freel}',  after  the 
usual  frictions  next.  Mr.  Ohlsen  sufl'ered  some  time 
from  strabismus  and  blindness :  two  others  imderwent 
amputation  of  part  of  the  foot,  without  unpleasant  con- 
sequences ;  and  two  died  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts. 


642 


ESQUIMAUX    VISITORS. 


"  We  were  watching  in  the  morning  at  Baker's  death- 
bed, when  one  of  our  deck-wateh,  who  had  been  cut- 
thig  ice  for  the  melter,  came  hurrying  down  into  the 
cabin  with  the  report,  "  People  halloing  anhore ! "  I 
went  up,  followed  by  as  many  as  could  mount  the 
gangway ;  and  there  they  were,  on  all  sides  of  our 
rocky  harbor,  dotting  the  snow-shores  and  emerging 
from  the  blackness  of  the  cliffs, — wild  and  uncouth  but 
evidently  human  beings. 

"  As  we  gathered  on  the  deck,  they  rose  upon  the 
more  elevated  fragments  of  the  land-ice,  standing 
singly  and  conspicuously  like  the  figures  in  a  tableau 
of  the  opera,  and  distributing  themselves  around  al- 
most in  a  half-circle.  They  were  vociferating  as  if  to 
attract  our  attention,  or  perhaps  only  to  give  vent  to 
their  surprise ;  but  I  could  make  nothing  out  of  their 
cries,  except  "Iloah,  ha  ha!  "and  '•  Ka,  kaah!  ha, 
kiirdi ! "  repeated  over  and  over  again. 

"  There  was  light  enough  for  me  to  see  that  they 
brandislied  no  weapons,  and  wore  only  tossing  their 
heads  and  arms  about  in  violent  gesticulations.  A 
more  unexcited  inspection  showed  us,  too,  that  their 
numbers  were  not  as  y-reat  nor  their  size  as  Patago- 
nian  as  some  of  us  had  been  disposed  to  fancy  at  first. 
In  a  word,  1  was  satisfied  that  they  were  natives  of  the 
country ;  and  calling  Petersen  from  his  bunk  to  be  my 
interpreter,  I  proceeded,  unarmed  and  waving  my 
open  hands,  toward  a  stout  figure  who  made  him- 
self conspicuous  and  seemed  to  have  a  greater  number 
near  him  than  the  rest.  He  evidcntl}-  understood  the 
movement,  for  he  at  once,  like  a  brave  fellow,  leaped 
down  upon  the  floe  and  advanced  to  meet  me  fully 
half-way. 

"  He  was  nearly  a  head  taller  than  myself,  extremely 


W\  '\ 


^?J 


WW 


'^':c*. 


LOADING   THE    KA.M11. 


riHal    HEKTINU    WITH    KailUlMAUX. 


INTERVIEW    WITH    METEK. 


545 


powerful  and  well-built,  with  s-v\-artliy  complexion  and 
piercing  black  ejes.  His  dress  was  a  hooded  capote 
or  jumper  of  mixed  white  and  blue  fox-pelts,  arranged 
with  something  of  fancy,  and  booted  trousers  of  white 
bear-skin,  which  at  the  end  of  the  foot  were  made  to 
terminate  with  the  claws  of  the  animal. 

"Although  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  seen  a 
white  man,  he  went  with  me  fearlessly ;  his  compan- 
ions staying  behind  on  the  ice.  Hickey  took  them 
out  what  ho  esteemed  our  greatest  delicacies, — slices 
of  good  wheat  bread,  and  corned  pork,  with  exorbitant 
lumps  of  white  sugar;  but  they  refused  to  touch  them. 
Thoy  had  evidently  no  apprehension  of  open  violence 
from  us.  I  found  afterward  that  several  among  them 
were  singly  a  match  for  the  white  bear  and  the  walrus, 
and  that  they  thought  us  a  very  pale-faced  crew. 

"  Being  satisfied  with  my  int  rview  in  the  cabin,  I 
sent  out  word  that  the  rest  might  be  admitted  to  the 
shii) ;  and,  although  they,  of  course,  could  not  know 
how  their  chief  had  been  dealt  with,  some  nine  or  ten 
of  them  followed  with  boisterous  readiness  upon  the 
bidding.  Otuers  in  the  mean  time,  as  if  disposed  to 
give  us  their  company  for  the  full  time  of  a  visit, 
brought  up  from  behind  the  land-ice  as  many  .ns  fifty- 
six  fine  dogs,  with  their  sledges,  and  secured  tliem 
within  two  hundred  feet  of  the  brii;:,  driving  their 
lances  into  the  ice,  and  picketing  the  dogs  to  tliem  by 
the  seal-skin  traces.  The  sledges  were  made  up  of 
small  IVaguients  of  porous  bone,  admiral)ly  knit  to- 
gether ])v  thoiigsof  hide  ;  the  runners,  which  glistened 
Uke  burnished  steel,  were  of  highly-polished  ivory, 
obtamecl  from. the  tusks  of  the  walrus.  The  oply  arms 
they  carried  were  knives,  concealed  in  their  boots ; 
but  their  lances,  which  were  lashed  to  the  sledges, 
were  qui^e  a  formidable  weapon. 

32 


546 


DEATH    OP    BAKER. 


"In  the  morning  they  wore  anxious  to  go ;  lout  I  had 
given  orders  to  detain  them  for  a  parting  interview 
with  myself.  U  roM^ltod  in  a  treaty,  brief  in  its  terms, 
that  it  might  oc  f.*  ;  •  ■  c  remembered,  and  mutually 
beneficial,  that  i.  .tnij^lit  possibly  be  kept.  I  tried  to 
make  them  undei'stand  what  a  powerful  Prospero  they 
had  had  for  a  host,  and  how  beneficent  he  would  prove 
himself  so  long  as  they  did  his  bidding.  And  as  an 
earnest  of  my  favor,  I  bought  all  the  walrus-meat  they 
had  to  spare,  and  four  of  their  dogs,  enriching  them 
in  return  with  needles  and  beads  and  a  treasure  of  old 
cask-staves. 

"  In  the  fullness  of  their  gratitude,  they  pledged 
themselves  emphatically  to  li^^tvirn  in  a  few  days  with 
more  meat,  and  to  allow  me  to  a?e  their  dogs  and  .^ledges 
for  my  excursions  to  the  or'i  I  then  gave  them 
leave  to  go.  They  yoi\  d  ^  ^aoir  dogs  in  less  than 
two  minutes,  got  oA  their  s^l-'ige?,  cracked  their  two- 
fathom-and-a-half-lons^  seal-sk^;;  hip,  and  were  off 
down  the  ice  to  tlie  southwest  at  a  rate  of  seven  knots 
an  hour. 

"May  28,  Sunday.  Our  day  of  rest  and  devotion. 
It  was  a  fortnight  ago  last  Friday  since  our  poor  friend 
Pierre  died.  For  nearly  two  months  he  had  been  strug- 
gling against  the  ci.'.  \y  with  a  resolute  will  and 
mirthful  spirit,  that  .'\  :;i^I  sure  of  victory.  But  he 
sunk  in  spite  of  them. 

"The  last  offices  were  rendered  to  hiin  with  the 
same  cvful  ceremonial  that  wo  ol)serve(l  at  Biik(>r"s 
funei  .a.  There  were  fewer  to  walk  in  the  procession ; 
but  the  body  was  encased  in  a  decent  pine  coflin  and 
carried  to  Observatory  Island,  where  it  was  placed 
side-by-side  with  that  of  his  messmate.  Neither  could 
yet  be  buried ;  but  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  any  that 


the 

to  ml 

itself 

fount 

teacll 

own 

trapi 

and 

hopoj 

the  ^1 
Dr.  if 

comjj 
my 

(( 


RETURN    OF     DR.   HATES. 


547 


the  frost  has  embalmed  their  remains.  Dr.  Hayes  read 
the  chapter  from  Job  which  has  consigned  so  many  to 
their  last  resting-place,  and  a  little  snow  was  sprinkled 
upon  the  face  of  the  coffin.  Pierre  was  a  volunteer  not 
only  of  our  general  expedition,  but  of  the  party  with 
which  he  met  his  deatli-blow.  He  was  a  gallant  man, 
a  universal  favorite  on  board,  always  singing  some 
B^ranger  ballad  or  other,  and  so  elastic  in  his  merri- 
ment that  even  in  his  last  sickness  he  cheered  all  that 
were  about  him." 

"May  30.  It  is  a  year  ago  to-day  since  we  left 
New  York.  I  am  not  as  sanguine  aslAvas  then:  time 
and  experience  have  chastened  me.  There  is  every 
thing  about  me  to  check  enthusiasm  and  moderate 
hope.  I  am  here  in  forced  inaction,  a  broken-down 
man,  oppressed  by  cares,  with  many  dangers  before 
me,  and  still  under  the  shadow  of  a  hard  wearing  win- 
ter, which  has  crushed  two  of  my  l)cst  associates. 

"My  mind  never  reaHzes  the  complete  catastrophe, 
the  destruction  of  all  Franklin's  crews.  I  picture  thorn 
to  myself  broken  into  detachments,  and  my  mind  fixes 
itself  on  one  little  group  of  some  thirty,  who  have 
found  the  open  spot  of  some  tidal  edd}^,  and  under  th<» 
teachings  of  some  Esquimaux  or  perhaps  one  of  their 
own  Greenland  whalers,  have  sot  bravely  to  work,  and 
trapped  the  fox,  speared  the  boar,  and  killed  the  seal 
and  walrus  and  wliide.  I  think  of  them  ever  with 
hope.     I  sicken  not  to  be  able  to  reach  them. 

"June  1,  Thursdav.  At  ten  o'clock  this  momiufr 
the  wail  of  the  dogs  outside  announced  the  return  of 
Dr.  Ilayos  and  William  GodfroA'.  IJoth  t)f  them  wore 
completely  .«now-blind,and  the  doctor  had  to  be  led  to 
my  bedside  to  make  his  report. 

"June   27.     McGary   and  Bonsall  are  back  with 


548 


ADVTKTURE    WITH    A    BEAR. 


Hickey  and  Riley.  They  arrived  List  evening:  all 
well,  except  that  the  snow  has  effected  their  eye-sight 
badly,  owing  to  the  scorbutic  condition  of  vheir  sys- 
tems. Mr.  McGary  is  entirely  blind,  and  I  fear  will 
be  found  slow  to  cure.  They  have  done  admirably. 
They  bring  back  a  continued  series  of  observations, 
perfectly  well  kept  up,  for  the  further  authentication 
of  our  surve}'. 

"  This  is  evidently  the  season  when  the  bears  are 
in  most  abundance.  Their  tracks  were  ever}- where, 
both  on  shore  and  upon  the  floes.  One  of  them  had 
the  audacity  to  attempt  intruding  itself  upon  the 
party  during  one  of  their  halts  upon  the  ice ;  and  Bon- 
sall  tells  a  good  ttory  of  the  manner  in  which  they  re- 
ceived and  returned  his  salutation,  but  without  in  any 
degree  disturbing  the  unwelcome  visitor ;  specially 
unwelcome  at  that  time  and  place,  for  all  tlie  guns 
had  been  left  on  the  sledge,  a  little  distance  off,  and 
there  was  not  t-o  much  as  a  walking-pole  inside.  There 
was  of  course  something  of  natiual  confusion  in  the 
little  council  of  war.  The  first  impulse  Avas  to  make 
a  rush  for  the  arms ;  but  this  was  soon  decided  to  be 
very  doubtfully  jjracticable,  if  at  all,  for  the  bear, 
having  satisfied  himself  with  his  observations  of  the 
exterior,  now  presented  himself  at  the  tent-opening. 
Sundry  volleys  of    lucifer   matches    and    some    im- 

romptu   torches  of  newspapers  were  fired  without 


prompti 


alarming  him,  and,  after  a  little  while,  he  planted  him- 
self at  the  doorway  and  began  making  his  supper 
upon  the  carcass  of  a  sCal  which  had  been  shot  the 
day  before. 

"Tom  Ilickey  was  the  first  to  bethink  him  of  the 
military  device  of  a  sortie  from  the  postern,  and,  cut- 
ting a  hole  with  his  knife,  crawled  out  at  the  rear  of 


TKNT    ON    TlIK    KLOKS. 


IHi:    UEAK    I.N    C'AMl 


OATHERINO   MOSS. 


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ADVENTURES    OP    MORTON    AND    HANS.      551 

the  tent.  Here  he  extricated  a  boat-hook,  that  formed 
one  of  the  supporters  of  the  ridge-pole,  and  made  it 
the  instrmnent  of  a  right  valorous  attack.  A  blow 
well  administered  on  the  nose  caused  the  animal  to 
retreat  for  the  moment  a  few  paces,  beyond  the  sledge, 
and  Tom,  calculating  his  distance  nicely,  sprang  "or- 
ward,  seized  a  rifle,  and  fell  back  in  safety  upon  his 
comrades.  In  a  few  seconds  more,  Mr.  Bonsall  had 
sent  a  ball  through  «,nd  through  the  body  of  his  en- 
emy. 

"  It  was  with  no  slight  joy  that  on  the  evening  of  the 
10th  of  July,  while  walking  with  Mr.  Bonsall,  a  dis- 
tant sound  of  dogs  caught  my  ear.  Those  fliithful 
servants  geneially  bayed  their  full-mouthed  welcome 
from  afar  off,  but  they  always  dashed  in  with  a  wild 
speed  which  made  their  outcry  a  direct  precursor  of 
their  arrival.  Not  so  these  well-worn  travelers.  Hans 
and  Morton  staggered  beside  the  limping  dogs,  and 
poor  Jenny  was  riding  as  a  passenger  upon  the  sledge. 

"  They  left  the  brig  on  the  3d  of  June,  and  reached 
the  Great  Glacier  on  the  15th,  after  only  twelve  days 
of  travel.  They  showed  great  judgment  in  passing 
tlie  baj's ;  and,  although  impeded  by  the  heavy  snows, 
would  have  been  able  to  remain  much  longer  in  the 
field,  but  for  the  destruction  of  our  provision-depots 
by  the  bears. 

"  As  Morton,  leaving  Hans  and  his  dogs,  p{^.ssed  be- 
tween Sir  John  Franklin  Island  and  the  nam  »v  beach- 
lino,  tlie  coast  became  more  wall-like,  and  dark  masses 
of  porphyritic  rock  abutted  into  the  sea.  With  grow- 
ing difficulty,  he  managed  to  climb  from  rock  to  rock, 
in  hopes  of  dovibling  the  promontory  and  sighting  the 
coa4  beyond,  but  the  water  kept  encroaching  more 
and  more  on  his  track. 


552 


THE    OPEN    SEA, 


"  It  must  have  been  an  imposing  sight,  as  he  stood  at 
this  termination  of  his  journey,  looking  out  upon  the 
great  waste  of  waters  before  him.  Not  a  "  speck  of 
ice,"  to  use  his  own  words,  could  be  seen.  There,  from  a 
height  of  five  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  which  com- 
manded a  horizon  of  almost  forty  miles,  his  ears  were 
gladdened  with  the  novel  music  of  dashing  waves; 
and  a  surf,  breaking  in  among  the  rocks  at  his  feet, 
stayed  his  further  progress.  , 

"  Beyond  this  cape  all  is  surmise.  The  high  ridges 
to  the  northwest  dwindled  oft*  into  low  blue  knobs, 
which  blended  finally  with  the  air.  Morton  called 
the  cape,  which  baffled  his  labors,  after  his  command- 
er ;  but  I  have  given  it  the  more  enduring  name  of 
Cape  Constitution. 

"All  the  sledge-parties  were  now  once  more  aboard 
ship,  and  the  season  of  Arctic  travel  has  ended.  For 
more  than  ten  months  we  had  been  imprisoned  in  ice, 
and  throughout  all  that  period,  except  during  the  en- 
forced holiday  of  the  midwinter  darkness  or  while 
repairing  from  actual  disaster,  had  been  constantly  in 
the  field.  The  summer  Avas  wearing  on,  but  still  the 
ice  did  not  break  up  as  it  should.  As  far  as  we  could 
see,  it  remained  inflexibly  solid  between  us  and  the 
North  Water  of  Baffin's  Bay.  f; 

"  The  alternative  of  abandoning  the  vessel  at  this 
early  stage  of  our  absence,  even  were  it  possible, 
would,  I  feel,  be  dishonoring ;  but,  revolving  the  ques- 
tion as  one  of  practicability  alone,  I  would  not  under- 
take it.  In  the  first  place  how  are  we  to  get  along 
with  our  sick  and  newly-amputated  men  ?  It  is  a 
drear  v  distance  at  the  best  to  Upernavik  of  Beechy 
Island,  our  only  seats  of  refuge,  and  a  precarious  trav- 
erse if  we  were  all  of  us  fit  for  moving ;  but  we  are 


MOttTOS   AND  UASa   ESTERINO  THE   CHASSKL. 


1 


i 


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if 


MORTOS  AUn  HAS3  LEAVING  KESSEDT  CHANNEL. 


ATTEMPT  TO  REACH  BEECHY  ISLAND.   555 

hardly  one-half  in  efficiency  of  what  we  count  in 
number.  Besides,  how  can  I  desert  the  brig  while 
there  is  still  a  chance  of  saving  her  ?  There  is  no  use 
of  noting  j3ro3  ar.a  cows;  my  mind  is  made  upj  I  will 
not  do  it." 

About  the  middle  of  July,  Dr.  Kane,  with  five  vol- 
unteers, started  southward  hoping  to  be  able  to  reach 
Beechy  Island,  and  to  communicate  with  some  one  of 
the  English  ships  searching  for  Franklin.  The  trip  was 
made  in  a  boat  which  was  dragged  to  the  water,  and 
was  exciting  and  dangerous.  On  the  31st  of  July, 
when  within  ten  miles  of  Cape  Parry,  they  were  stop- 
ped by  a  solid  mass  of  ice  which  lay  directly  across 
their  path.  On  climbing  an  iceberg  they  found  that 
all  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  was  an  impenetrable 
sea  of  ice.  Further  attempts  to  proceed  being  useless, 
they  returned  to  the  brig,  halting  at  Northumberland 
and  Littleton  Islands,  where  they  feasted  on  auks  and 
scurvy  grass. 

Littleton  Island  will  ever  be  a  locality  of  great  in- 
terest, as  the  hii-'  h  irbor  of  the  Polaris  was  on  the 
the  main  land  opposite,  and  the  place  where  her  crew, 
after  a  long  residence,  started  southward  in  June,  1873. 

"August  18.  Reduced  our  allowance  of  wood  to 
six  pounds  a  meal.  This,  among  eighteen  mouths,  is 
one-third  of  a  pound  of  fuel  for  each.  It  allows  us 
coffee  twice  a  day,  and  soup  once.  Our  fare  besides 
this  is  cold  pork  boiled  in  quantity  and  eaten  as  re- 
quired. This  sort  of  thing  works  badly;  but  I  must 
save  coal  for  other  emergencies.  I  see  'darkness 
ahead.' 

"August  20,  Sunday.  Rest  for  all  hands.  The 
daily  prayer  is  no  longer  '  Lord  accept  our  gratitude 
and  bless  our  undertaking,'  but  'Lord    accept    our 


J 


656 


SIGNAL    CAIRN. 


gratitude  and  restore  us  to  our  homes.'  The  ice 
shows  no  change:  after  a  boat  and  foot  journey 
around  the  entire  southeastern  curve  of  tlie  bay,  no 
signs ! 

"  I  determined  to  place  upon  Observatory  Island  a 
large  signal-beacon  or  cairn,  and  to  bury  under  it  doc- 
uments which,  in  cr  if  disaster  to  our  party,  would 
convey   to    any  w  night    seek    us    intelligence 

of  our  proceedings  and  our  fate.  The  memory  of  the 
first  winter  quarters  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  the 
painful  feelings  vith  Avhich,  while  standing  by  the 
graves  of  his  dead,  I  had  four  years  before  sought  for 
written  signs  pointing  to  the  fate  of  the  living,  made 
me  careful  to  avoid  a  similar  neglect. 

"A  conspicuous  spot  was  selected  upon  a  cliff  looking 
out  upon  the  icy  desert,  and  on  a  broad  face  of  rock 
the  words 

ADVAN"CE, 

'  '■'■':  A.  D.  1853-54, 

were  painted  in  letters  which  could  bo  read  at  a  dis- 
tance. A  pyramid  of  heavy  stones,  perched  above  it, 
was  marked  with  the  Christian  symbol  of  the  cross. 
It  was  not  without  a  holier  sentiment  than  that  of 
mere  utility  that  I  pkced  under  this  the  collinsof  our 
two  poor  comrades.  It  was  our  beacon  and  their 
gravestone. 

"  Near  this  a  hole  was  worked  into  the  rock,  and  a 
paper,  enclosed  in  glass,  sealed  in  with  melted  lead. 

"  It  read  as  follows  : —  ' 

"Brig  Adtance,  August  14,  1854. 

"E.  K.  Kane,  with  his  comrades,  Henry  Brooks, 
Johu  Wall  Wilson,  James  McGary,  I.  I.  Hayes,  Chris- 


paiKJ 

thrc 

east] 

been 

was 

treni 

rent 

and! 

u  \ 

the 

pen 

mei 


THE    RECORD, 


D57 


tinn  Ohlseii,  Atnos  Bonsall,  Ilcnry  Gooil follow,  August 
Sontiig,  Willitiui  Morton,  J.  Ctirl  rolerscn,  (Jeoigo 
Stephenson,  JefTerson  Temple  Baker,  (Jeorge  Kiley, 
Peter  Sehubert,  George  Whipple,  John  Bltike,  Thomas 
Ilickey,  William  Godfrey,  and  Hans  Christian,  mem- 
bers of  the  Second  Grmnell  Expedition  in  search  of 
Sir  John  Franklin  and  the  missing  crews  of  the  Erohus 
and  Terror,  were  forced  into  this  harbor  while  endeav- 
oring to  bore  the  ice  to  the  north  and  east. 

"  They  were  frozen  in  on  the  8th  of  September, 
1853,  and  liberated 

"During  this  period  the  labors  of  the  expedition 
have  delineated  nine  hundred  and  sixty  miles  of  coast- 
line, without  developing  any  ti'acesof  the  missing  ships 
or  the  slightest  information  bearing  iipon  their  Aite. 
The  amount  of  travel  to  effect  this  exi)loration  ex- 
ceeded two  thousand  miles,  all  of  which  was  upon  foot 
or  by  the  aid  of  dogs. 

"Greenland  has  been  traced  to  its  northern  face, 
whence  it  is  connected  with  the  farther  north  of  the 
opposite  coast  by  a  great  glacier.  This  coast  has  been 
charted  as  high  as  lat.  82°  27'.  Smith's  Sound  ex- 
pands into  a  capacious  bay:  it  has  been  surve^'ed 
throughout  its  entii-e  extent.  From  its  northern  and 
eastern  corner,  in  lat.  80°  10',  lung.  G0°,  a  channel  has 
been  discovered  and  followed  until  farther  progress 
was  checked  bv  water  free  from  ice.  This  channel 
trended  nearly  due  north,  and  expanded  into  an  a])pa- 
rently  open  sea,  which  abounded  with  birds  and  bears 
and  marine  life. 

"The  death  of  the  dogs  during  the  winter  threw 
the  travel  essential  to  the  above  discoveries  upon  the 
personal  efforts  of  the  officers  and  men.  The  sum- 
mer finds  them  much  broken  in  health  and  strength. 


558 


TUB     COUNCIL. 


"  Jefferson  Temple  Baker,  and  Peter  Schubert  died 
from  injuries  received  from  cold  while  in  manly  per- 
formance of  their  duty.  Their  remains  are  deposited 
under  a  cairn  at  the  north  point  of  Ol)!servatory 
Island. 

"  The  site  of  the  observatory  is  seventy-six  Enp^'-h 
feet  from  the  northernmost  salient  point  of  this  island, 
in  a  direction  S.  14°  E.  Its  position  is  in  hit.  78°  37 10", 
long.  70°  40'.  The  mean  tidal  level  is  twent\-nine 
feet  below  the  highest  point  upon  this  island.  Both 
of  these  sites  are  fur*'or  designated  l>y  copper  bolts 
sealed  with  melted  lead  into  holes  upon  the  rocks. 

"On  the  12th  of  August,  1804,  the  brig  Avarped  from 
her  position,  and,  after  passing  inside  the  croup  of 
islands,  fastened  to  the  outer  floe  about  a  uiile  to  the 
northwest,  where  she  is  now  aAvaiting  further  changes 
in  the  ice. 

"Signed, 

«E.  K.  Kane, 

"  Coninianding  ExpeiUtion. 
"Fox-Trap  Toixt,  August  14,  1854." 

"  August  24.  At  noon  to-day  I  had  all  hands  called, 
and  explained  to  them  frankly  the  considerations 
which  have  determined  me  to  remain  where  we  are. 
I  endeavored  to  show  them  that  an  escape  to  open 
water  could  not  succeed,  and  that  the  ellort  must  be 
exceedingly  bazardous:  I  alluded  to  our  duties  to  the 
ship :  in  a  word,I  advised  them  strenuously  to  forego  the 
project.  I  then  told  them  that  I  should  freely  give  my 
permission  to  such  as  were  desirous  of  making  the  at- 
tempt, but  that  I  should  require  them  to  jilace  them- 
selves under  the  command  of  officers  selected  by  them 
before   setting  out,  and  to  renounce  in  writing  all 


PORTION    OF    CREW    START    3  0UTH.     559 

claims  upon  myself  find  the  rest  who  were  resolved 
to  stay  by  the  vessel.  Having  done  this,  I  directed 
the  roll  to  be  called,  and  each  man  to  answer  for  him- 
self 

"  In  the  result,  eight  out  of  the  seventeen  survivors 
of  my  party  resolved  to  stand  by  the  brig.  It  is  just 
that  I  should  record  their  names.  They  were  Henry 
Bi'ooks,  James  McGary,  J.  W.  Wilson,  Henry  Goodfel- 
low,  William  Morton,  Christian  Ohlsen,  Thomas  Ilick- 
ey,  Hans  Christian. 

"  I  divided  to  the  others  their  portion  of  our  re- 
sources justly  and  e\'t?i  liberally;  and  tliey  left  us  on 
Monday,  the  28th,  with  every  appliance  our  narrow 
circumstances  could  furnish  to  specnl  and  guard  them. 
One  of  them,  George  Kiley,  returned  a  few  days  af- 
terward ;  but  weary  months  went  by  before  we  saw 
the  rest  again.  Tiiey  carried  with  them  a  written  as- 
surance of  a  brother's  welcome  should  they  be  driven 
back ;  and  this  assurance  wa."^  redeemed  when  hard 
trials  had  prepared  them  to  share  again  our  fortunes. 

'■  The  party  moved  off  with  the  elastic  step  of  men 
confident  in  their  purpose,  a  id  were  out  of  sight  in  a 
few  hours.  As  we  lost  them  among  the  hummocks,  the 
stern  realities  of  our  condition  pressed  themselves  upon 
us  anew.  The  reduced  numbers  of  our  party,  the  help- 
lessness of  many,  tlie  waning  efficiency  of  all,  the  im- 
pending winter  with  its  cold,  dark  night,  our  penury 
of  resource.s,  the  dreary  sense  of  increased  isolation, — 
these  made  the  staple  of  our  thougni>>.  For  a  time, 
Sir  John  Franklin  and  his  party,  our  daily  topic 
through  so  many  months,  gave  place  to  the  question 
of  our  own  fortunes, — how  we  were  to  escape,  how  to 
live.  The  summer  had  gone,  the  harvest  was  ended, 
and We  did  not  care  to  finish  the  seuteuce. 


I 


m'. 


11 
111 

'! 


I 


s  s 


560 


THE    ARREST. 


"  When  the  three  visitors  came  to  us  near  the  end  of 
Au<^ust,  I  established  them  in  a  tent  below  deck,  with 
a  copper  lamp,  a  cooking-basin,  and  a  liberal  supply  of 
slush  for  fuel.  I  left  them  under  guard  when  1  went 
to  bod  at  two  in  the  morning,  contentedly  eating  and 
cooking  and  eating  again  without  the  promise  of  an  in- 
termission. An  A'.uoiican  or  an  European  would  have 
slept  after  such  a  debauch  till  the  recognized  hour  for 
hock  and  sclt/.er-water.  But  our  guests  managed  to  elude 
the  officer  of  the  deck  and  escape  unsearched.  They 
repaid  my  liberality  by  stealing  not  only  the  lamp, 
boiler,  and  cooking-pot  they  had  used  for  the  feast,  but 
Nannook  also,  my  best  dog.  If  the  rest  of  my  team 
had  not  been  worn  down  by  over-travel,  no  doubt  they 
Avould  have  taken  them  all.  Besides  this,  we  discov- 
ered the  next  morning  that  they  had  found  the  buifa- 
lo-robes  and  Indian-rubber  cloth  which  McGary  had 
left  a  few  days  before  on  the  ice-foot  near  Six-mile 
Ravine,  and  had  added  the  whole  to  the  spoils  of  their 
visit. 

"  I  was  puzzled  how  to  inflict  punishment,  but  saw 
that  I  must  act  vi<i!;()rouslv,  even  at  a  venture,  I  des- 
patched  my  two  best  walkers,  Morton  and  Kiley,  as 
soon  as  I  heard  of  the  theft  of  tiie  stores,  witli  orders 
to  make  all  speed  to  Anoatok,  and  overtake  the  thieves, 
who,  I  thonglit,  would  probably  halt  there  to  »•  st. 
They  found  young  Myouk  milking  himself  quite  ''orn- 
fortable  in  tlic  hut,  in  company  with  Sievu,  the  wife  of 
Metek,  and  Aningna,  the  wife  of  Marsinga^  and  ray 
bufiido-robes  already  tailored  into  kapetahs  on  tlnir 
backs. 

"  A  continued  search  of  the  premises  recovered  the 
cooking-utensils,  and  a  number  of  other  things  of 
greater  or  less  value  that  we  had  not  missed  from  the 


"KDY    CUAXXEL. 


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VIEW    ntO.M    CAPK    CONSTITUTION. 


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W00( 

cove 
«] 
dire( 
ing 


THE    PUNISUMENT. 


56^ 


brig.  With  the  prompt  ceremonial  which  outraged 
haw  delights  in  among  the  officials  of  the  police  every- 
where, the  women  were  stripped  and  tied ;  and  then, 
laden  with  their  stolen  goods  and  as  much  walrus-beef 
besides  from  their  own  stores  as  would  pay  for  their 
board,  they  were  marched  on  the  instant  back  to  the 
brig. 

"The  thirty  miles  was  a  hard  walk  for  them;  but 
they  did  not  complain,  nor  did  their  constabulary 
guardians,  who  had  marched  thirty  miles  already  to 
apprehend  them.  It  was  hardly  twenty-four  hours 
since  they  left  the  brig  with  their  booty  before  they 
were  prisoners  in  the  hold,  with  a  dreadfid  white  man 
for  keeper,  who  never  addressed  to  them  a  word  that 
had  not  all  the  terrors  of  an  unintelligible  reproof, 
and  ^\  hose  scom'I,  I  flatter  myself,  exhibited  a  well-ar- 
ranged variety  of  menacing  and  demoniacal  expres- 
sions. 

"  They  had  not  even  the  companionship  of  Myouk. 
Him  I  had  despatched  to  Metek, '  head-man  of  Etah, 
and  others,"  with  the  message  of  a  melo-dramatic  ty- 
rant, to  negotiate  for  their  ransom.  For  five  long 
days  the  women  had  to  sigh  and  sing  and  cry  in  soli- 
tary converse, — their  ajipetlte  continuing  excellent,  it 
shoidd  be  remarked,  though  mourning  the  while  a 
rightfully-lm2)endlng  doom.  At  last  the  great  Metek 
arrived,  lie  brought  with  him  Ootuniah,  another  man 
of  elevated  social  position,  and  quite  a  slcdge-load  of 
knives,  tin  cups,  and  other  stolen  goods,  refuse  of 
wood  and  scraps  of  Iron,  the  sinful  prizes  of  many 
covetlngs. 

"  I  m;iy  pass  over  our  peace  conferences  and  the  in- 
direct advantages  which  I  of  course  derived  from  hav- 
ing the  opposing  powers  represented  in  my  OAvn  cap- 


¥ 


;[ 


564 


THE    TREATY. 


itaL  But  the  spiondors  of  our  Arctic  centre  of  civil- 
ization,  with  its  wonders  of  art  and  science, — our  "  fire- 
death  "  ordnance  included, — could  not  all  of  them  im- 
press Metek  so  much  as  the  intimations  he  had  re- 
ceived of  our  superior  physical  endowments. 

"The  protocol  was  arranged  without  difficulty, 
though  not  without  the  accustomed  number  of  ad- 
^  journments  for  festivity  and  repose.  It  abounded  in 
protestations  of  power,  fearlessness,  and  good-will  by 
each  of  the  contracting  parties,  Avhich  meant  as  much 
as  such  protestations  usually  do  on  both  sides  the 
Arctic  circle. 

"  On  the  part  of  the  Inuit,  the  Esquimaux,  they 
were  after  tliis  fashion : — 

"'We  promise  that  we  will  not  steal.  AVe  promise 
we  will  bring  you  fresh  meat.  We  promise  we  will 
sell  or  lend  you  dogs.  We  Avill  keep  you  company 
whenever  you  want  us,  and  show  you  where  to  find 
the  game." 

"  On  the  part  of  the  Kablunah,  the  white  men,  the 
stipulation  was  this  ample  equivalent : — 

" '  AYe  promise  that  we  will  not  vi.~it  you  with  death 
or  sorcery,  nor  do  you  any  hurt  or  mischief  whatsoev- 
er. We  will  shoot  for  you  on  our  hunls.  You  shall 
be  made  welcome  aboard  ship.  We  will  give  you 
presents  of  needles,  pins,  two  kinds  of  knife,  a  hoop, 
three  bits  of  hard  wood,  some  fat,  an  awl,  and  some 
sewing-thread ;  and  we  will  trade  with  you  of  these 
and  every  thing  else  you  want  for  walrus  and  seal- 
meat  of  the  first  quality." 

"  And  the  closing  formula  mi<^ht  have  read,  if  the 
Esquimaux  political  system  had  inchided  reading 
among  its  qualifications  for  diplomacy,  in  this  time- 
consecrated  and,  in  civilized  regions,  veracious  assuiv 
ance : — 


chi] 

tol 
she 
of 


i 


OUR    WTLD    ALLIES. 


565 


U( 


We,  the  high  contracting  parties  pledge  ourselves 
now  and  forever  brothers  and  friends.' 

"  This  treaty — which,  though  I  have  spoken  of  it 
jocosely,  was  really  an  affair  of  much  interest  to  us — 
was  ratified  with  Hans  and  Morton  as  my  accredited 
representatives,  by  a  full  assembly  of  the  people  at 
Etah.  All  our  future  intercourse  was  conducted  by  it. 
It  was  not  solemnized  by  any  oath ;  but  it  was  never 
broken.  We  went  to  and  fro  between  the  villages 
and  the  brig,  paid  our  visits  of  courtesy  and  necessity 
on  both  sides,  met  each  other  in  hunting  parties  on 
the  floe  and  the  ice-foot,  organized  a  general  community 
of  interests,  and  really,  I  believe,  established  some 
personal  attachments  deserving  of  the  name.  As  long 
as  we  remained  prisoners  of  the  ice,  we  were  indebted 
to  them  for  invaluable  counsel  in  relation  to  our  hunt- 
ing expeditions  ;  and  in  the  joint  hunt  we  shared  alike, 
according  to  their  own  laws.  Our  dogs  were  in  one 
sense  common  property ;  and  often  have  they  robbed 
themselves  to  offer  supplies  of  food  to  our  starving  toains. 
They  gave  us  supplies  of  meat  at  critical  periods :  we 
were  able  to  do  as  much  for  them.  They  learned  to 
look  on  us  only  ..s  beneftictors ;  and,  I  know,  mourned 
our  departure  bitterly. 

"  September  22.  I  am  off  for  the  walrus-grounds 
with  our  wild  allies.  It  will  be  my  sixth  trip.  I  know 
the  country  and  its  landmai'ks  now  as  well  as  any  of 
them,  and  can  name  every  rock  and  chasm  and  wa- 
tercourse, in  night  or  fog,  just  as  I  could  the  familiar 
spots  about  the  dear  Old  Mills  whore  I  passed  my 
childhood. 

"  September  29.  I  returned  last  night  from  Anoa- 
tok,  after  a  journey  of  nuich  risk  an  exposure,  that  I 
should  have  avoided  but  for  the  msuperable  obstinacy 
of  our  savage  friends. 


566      HUNTING    EXCURSION    WITH    MYOUK. 


"I  set  out  for  the  walrus  grounds  at  noon,  by  the 
track  of  the  '  Wind  Point '  of  Anoatok,  known  to  us  as 
Esquimaux  Point.  I  took  the  light  sledge,  and,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  five  of  my  available  team,  harnessed  in 
two  animals  belonging  to  the  Esquimaux,  Ootuniah, 
Myouk,  and  the  dark  stranger  accompanied  me,  with 
Morton  tmd  Hans. 

"At  about  10  P.M.,  we  had  lost  the  land,  and,  while 
driving  the  dogs  rapidly,  all  of  us  running  alongside  of 
them,  wo  took  a  wrong  direction,  and  traveled  out 
toward  the  floating  ice  of  the  Sound.  We  had  to 
keep  moving,  for  we  could  not  camp  in  the  gale,  that 
blew  around  us  so  fiercely  that  we  could  scarcely  hold 
down  the  sledge.  But  we  moved  with  caution,  feeling 
our  way  witR  the  tent-poles,  which  I  distributed 
among  the  party  f  )r  the  purpose.  A  murmur  had 
reached  my  ear  for  some  time  in  tlie  cadetices  of  the 
storm,  steadier  and  deeper,  I  thought,  than  the  tone 
of  the  wind :  on  a  sudden  it  struck  me  that  1  heard 
the  noise  of  waves,  and  that  we  must  be  coming  close 
on  the  open  Avater.  I  had  hardly  time  for  the  hurried 
order,  'Tiu'n  the  dogs,'  before  a  wreath  of  wet  frost- 
smoke  swojit  over  us,  and  the  sea  showed  itself,  with  a 
great  fringe  of  foam,  hardly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ahead. 
We  could  now  guess  our  position  and  its  dangers.  The 
ice  was  breaking  up  before  the  storm,  and  it  was  not 
certiiin  that  even  a  direct  retreat  in  the  face  of  the 
gale  would  extricate  us. 

"It  was  pitchy  dark.  I  persuaded  Ootuniah,  the 
eldest  of  the  Esquimaux,  to  have  a  tent-pole  lashed 
horizontally  across  his  shoidders.  I  gave  him  the  end 
of  a  lino,  whicli  I  had  fastened  at  the  other  end  round 
my  waist.  The  rest  of  the  party  followed  him.  At 
last  one  after  another  succeeded  in  clambering  after 
me  upon  the  ice-foot,  driving  the  dogs  before  them. 


ESCIUIMAIX    irUT, 


WILO    1)0U    TEAM, 


i. 


1 


AN    ESQUIMAUX    HOMESTEAD, 


569 


"Providence  Imd  been  our  guide.  The  shore  on 
which  we  landeil  was  Anoatok,  not  four  hundred  yards 
from  the  familiar  Esquimaux  homestead.  With  a 
shout  of  joy,  each  man  in  his  own  dialect,  we  hastened 
to  the  '  wind-loved  spot;'  and  in  less  than  an  hour, our 
lamps  burning  cheerfully,  we  were  discussing  a  famous 
stew  of  walrus-steaks,  none  the  less  relished  for  an 
unbroken  ice-walk  of  forty-eight  miles  and  twenty 
haltless  hours. 

"  Time  had  done  its  work  on  the  igloli  of  Anoatok, 
as  among  the  palatial  structures  of  more  southern 
deserts.  The  entire  front  of  the  donic  had  fallen  in, 
closhig  up  the  tossut,  and  finx^ing  us  to  enter  at  the 
solitary  window  above  it.  The  breach  was  large 
enough  to  admit  a  sledge  team;  but  our  Arctic 
comrades  showed  no  anxiety  to  close  it  up.  Their 
clothes  saturated  with  the  frerzins"  water  of  the  floes, 
these  iron  men  gathered  themselves  i-ound  the  blub- 
ber-fire and  steamed  away  in  apparent  comfort.  The 
only  depjtrture  from  their  practised  routine,  which  the 
bleak  night  and  open  roof  seemed  to  suggest  to  them, 
was  that  they  did  not  strip  themselves  naked  liefore 
coming  into  the  hut,  and  hang  up  their  vestments  in 
the  air  to  dry,  like  a  votive  oflering  to  the  god  of  the 
sea. 

"  The  chant  and  the  feed  and  the  ceremony  all  com- 
pleted, ITans,  Morton,  and  myself  crawled  feet-foremost 
mto  our  buffalo-bag,  and  Ootuniah,  Awahtok,  and  M}'- 
cuk  flung  themselves  outside  the  skin  between  us. 
The  last  I  heard  of  them  or  anvthing  else  was  the  re- 
newed chorus  of  '  Nalegak !  nalegak  I  nalegak-soak ! ' 
mingling  itself  sleepily  in  my  drea-ms  with  school-boy 
memories  of  Aristophanes   and  The   Frogs.    I  slept 

eleven  houra 

33 


570 


A    BEAR-FIGHT. 


"Oc+obcr  7.  Lively  Bensaiion,  as  they  say  in  the 
land  of  olives,  and  champagne.  *  Nannook,  nannook !' 
— '  A  bear,  a  bear ! ' — Hans  and  Morton  in  a  breath ! 

"To  the  scandal  of  our  domestic  regulations,  the 
guns  were  all  impracticable.  While  the  men  were  load- 
ing and  capping  anew,  I  seized  my  pillow-companion 
six-shooter,  and  ran  on  deck.  A  niedium-si/cd  bear, 
with  a  four  months'  cub,  was  i  .  active  warfare  with 
our  dogs.  They  were  hangi  \"'  -  n  her  skirts,  and  she 
with  wonderful  alertness  was  i)icking  out  one  victim 
after  another,  snatching  him  by  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
and  flinging  him  many  feet  or  rather  yards,  by  a 
barely  perceptible  movement  of  her  head. 

"  Tudla,  our  master  dog,  was  already  hors  de  combat : 
he  had  been  tossed  twice.  Jenny,  just  as  I  emerged 
from  the  hatch,  was  making  an  extraordinary  somer- 
set of  some  eight  fathoms,  and  alighted  senseless. 
Old  Whitcy,  stanch,  but  not  bear-wise,  had  been  the 
first  in  the  battle  :  he  was  yelping  in  helplessness  on 
the  snow. 

"It  seemed  as  if  the  controversy  was  adjourned  and 
Nannook  evidently  thought  so ;  for  she  turned  oil"  to 
our  l)eef-barrels,  and  began  in  the  most  unconcerned 
manner  to  turn  them  over  and  nose  out  their  fatness. 

"October  11.  There  is  no  need  of  looking  at  the 
thermometer  and  comparing  registers,  to  show  how 
far  this  season  has  advanced  beyond  its  fellow  of  last 
year.  The  ice-foot  is  more  easily  read,  and  quite  as 
certain. 

"  The  under  part  of  it  is  covered  now  with  long  sta- 
lactitic  columns  of  ice,  unlike  the  ordinary  icicle  in 
shape,  for  they  have  the  characteristic  bulge  of  the 
carbonate-of-lime  stalactite.  They  look  like  the  fan- 
tastic columns  hanging  from  the  roof  of  a  frozen  tem- 


• 


} 


,» , 


AWAIITOK  S    nUT. 


571 


pie,  the  (lark  recess  behind  them  giving  all  the  effect 
of  a  grotto.  Tliere  is  one  that  brings  back  to  me 
saddened  memories  of  Elephaiita  and  the  merry 
friends  that  bore  me  company  under  its  rock-chiselled 
portico.  The  fig-trees  and  the  palms,  and  the  gallant 
major's  curries  and  his  old  India  ale,  are  wanting  in 
the  picture.  Sometimes  again  it  is  a  canopy  fringed 
with  gems  in  the  moonlight.  Nothing  can  be  purer  or 
more  beautiful. 

"  Morton  reached  the  Imts  beyond  Anoatok  upon 
the  fourth  day  after  leaving  the  brig.  There  were 
four  huts ;  but  two  of  them  arc  in  ruins.  Tliey  were 
all  of  them  tlie  homes  of  families  only  four  winters 
ago.  Of  the  two  which  are  still  habitable,  Myouk, 
his  father,  mother,  brother,  and  s-ister  occupied  one  • 
and  Awahtok  and  Ootuniah,  with  their  wives  and  three 
young  ones  the  other. 

"It  was  evident  from  the  meagreness  of  tlic  larder 
that  the  hunters  of  the  family  had  work  to  do ;  and  from 
some  signs  wliich  did  not  escape  tlie  sagacity  of  Morton 
it  was  plain  that  Myouk  and  his  father  had  determined 
to  seek  their  next  dinner  upon  the  floes.  Tiiey  were 
going  upon  a  walrus-hunt ;  and  Morton,  true  to  the 
mission  with  which  I  had  cliarged  him,  invited  himself 
and  Hans  to  be  of  the  party. 

"I  have  not  yet  described  one  of  these  exciting  inci- 
dents of  Kscpiimaux  life.  Morton  was  full  of  the  one 
he  witnessed ;  and  his  account  of  it  when  he  came 
back  was  so  graphic  that  I  sliould  be  glad  to  escape 
from  the  egotism  of  personal  narrative  by  giving  it  in 
bis  own  language." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


DR  KANE'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 

(CONTIXUED.  ) 

Mv  narrative  has  readied  a  period  at  which  every 
thiriir  like  progress  was  suspended.  The  increasing 
cold  and  brisrhtening  stars,  tlu^  la))ors  and  anxieties 
and  sickness  that  pressed  upon  ns, — these  almost  en- 
gross the  pages  of  my  journal.  Now  and  then  1  find 
some  luarvel  of  Petersen's  about  the  Ibx's  dexterity  as 
a  hunter;  and  Hans  tells  me  of  domestic  life  in  South 
Greenland,  or  of  a  seal-hunt  and  a  wrecked  kayack ; 
or  perhaps  McGary  repeats  his  thrice-told  tale  of  hu- 
mor ;  but  the  night  has  closed  down  upon  us,  and  we 
are  hibernating  through  it. 

"  Yet  some  of  these  were  topics  of  interest.  The 
intense  beauty  of  the  Arctic  iiniiament  can  hardly  be 
imagined.  It  looked  close  al)(»ve  our  heads,  with  its 
stars  magnified  in  glory  and  tiie  very  pkinets  twiidi- 
ling  so  much  as  tol)ai1iethe  ol )servat  ions  of  oin*  astron- 
omer. I  am  afraid  to  speak  of  some  of  these  night- 
scenes.  I  have  trodden  the  deck  and  the  ilocs,  when 
the  life  of  earth  seemed  suspended,  its  movements,  its 
sounds,  its  coloring,  its  conijianiousliips ;  i\nd  as  I 
looked  on  the  radiant  hemisphere,  circling  above  me 
as  if  rendering  worship  to  the  unseen  Center  of  light, 
I  have  ejaculated  in  humility  of  spirit, '  Lord,  wliat  is 
man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  bimV    And  thenl  have 

572 


ARCTIC   MOOSLIGIIT. 


Til.'    H  IvKllir    CANOPT 


, 


i  I': 


m 


t'liiij 


thought ( 
vohing  .s 
gUidden  i 
to  us  the 
Avho  nre 
again. 

the  watch 
light  on  (J 
06°  below 
so  we  still 
every  one 
ing  in  his 
Arctic  ^vin 
"  I  wns  { 
fatigue  of 
the  deck  b 
came  on  n 
each,  most 
few  minute 
charity:  th 
Petersen,  t\ 
August. 

'•The  pai 

ing  to  tell  ( 

ilous  I'xpcri 

the  most  sti 

dition  the_y 

miles  oH",  t\h 

ken,  and  th 

anotlier  pnn 

first  (ho  ugh  I 

ing  them. 

'*  I  resolve 


THE    CABIN    BY    NIGHT. 


575 


thought  of  the  kindly  world  we  had  left,  with  its  re- 
volving sunshine  and  shadow,  and  the  other  stars  that 
gladden  it  in  their  changes,  and  the  hearts  that  warmed 
to  us  there ;  till  I  lost  myself  in  memories  of  those 
who  !;rc  not ; — and  they  bore  me  back  to  the  stars 
a.fam. 

"  December  1.  I  am  writing  at  midnight.  I  have 
the  watch  from  eight  to  two.  It  is  day  in  the  moon- 
light on  deck,  the  thermometer  getting  up  again  to 
36°  below  zero.  As  I  came  down  to  the  cabin — for 
80  we  still  call  this  little  moss-lined  igloe  of  ours — 
every  one  is  asleep,  snoring,  gritting  his  teeth,  or  talk- 
ing in  his  dreams.  This  is  pnthognomonic ;  it  tells  of 
Arctic  winter  and  its  companion,  scurvy. 

"  I  was  asleep  in  the  forenoon  of  the  Tth,  after  the 
fatigue  of  an  extra  ninht- watch,  when  1  was  called  to 
the  deck  by  the  report  of 'Esquimaux  sledges.'  They 
came  on  rapidly,  five  sledges,  with  teams  of  six  dogs 
eiich,  most  of  the  drivers  strangers  to  us ;  and  in  a 
few  minutes  were  at  the  brig.  Their  errand  was  of 
charity :  they  were  bringing  back  to  us  JJousall  and 
Petersen,  two  of  the  party  that  left  us  on  the  28th  of 
August. 

'•  The  ])arty  had  many  adventures  and  much  suffer- 
ing to  tell  of.  The_y  had  verified  by  painful  and  per- 
ilous experience  all  1  hiul  anticipated  for  them.  But 
the  most  stirring  of  their  announcements  was  the  con- 
dition they  had  left  their  associates  iu,  (wo  hundred 
miles  off,  divided  iu  their  counsels,  their  energies  bro- 
ken, and  tiieir  provisions  nearly  gone.  I  reserve  for 
another  ]iage  the  history  of  their  Avanderings.  My 
first  tliought  was  of  the  means  of  rescuing  and  reliev- 
ing them. 

'•  1  resolved  to  despatch  the  Esqvumaux  escort  at  once 


i    lis 


576   RETURN  OF  WITHDRAWING  PARTY. 


with  such  supplies  fts  our  miserabl^y-impcrfcct  stores 
allowed,  they  giving  theii'  pledge  to  carry  tlieni  witii 
all  speed,  and,  what  I  felt  to  be  much  Icf^s  certain,  with 
all  honesty.  We  cleaned  and  bo'ded  and  packed  a 
hundred  pounds  of  pork,  and  sewed  up  smaller  pack- 
ages of  meat-biscuit,  bread-dust,  and  tea ;  and  des- 
patched the  whole,  some  three  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds,  hy  the  returning  convoy.  Of  our  own  party 
— those  who  had  remained  with  the  brig — Mcdarj^, 
Hans,  and  myself  were  the  only  ones  able  to  move, 
and  of  these  McGary  was  now  faii-ly  on  the  sick  list. 
We  could  not  be  absent  a  single  day  without  jeopard- 
ing the  lives  of  the  rest. 

■  "December  12th,  Tuesdrv.  Brooks  awoke  me  at 
three  this  morning  with  the  cry  of '  Esquimaux  again !' 
I  dressed  hastily,  and,  groping  my  way  over  the  pile 
of  boxes  that  leads  up  from  the  hold  into  the  darkness 
above,  made  out  a  group  of  human  figure«,  masked 
by  the  hooded  jumpers  of  the  natives.  They  stopped 
at  the  gangway,  and,  as  I  was  a))Out  to  challenge,  one 
of  them  sprang  fbrwaid  and  graspcMl  my  hand.  It 
was  Doctor  Hayes.  A  few  Avords,  dictated  l)y  suffer- 
ing, certainly  not  by  any  anxiety  as  to  his  reception, 
and  at  his  bidding  the  whole  party  came  upon  deck. 
Poor  i'ellows !  I  could  only  grasp  their  iiands  and  give 
them  a  brother's  welcome. 

"  The  thermometer  was  at  minus  50° ;  they  wera 
covered  with  rime  and  snow,  and  were  faint  in  u;  with 
hunger.  It  was  necessary  to  use  caution  in  taking 
them  below;  for,  after  an  exposure  of  such  fearful  in- 
tensity and  duration  as  they  had  gone  through,  the 
warmth  of  the  cabin  would  have  prostrated  them  com- 
pletely. They  had  journeyed  three  hundred  ,\nd  fifty 
miles  J  and   their  last  run  from  'the  bay  near  Etah, 


f 


sil 
m 


CHRISTMAS     FESTIVITIES, 


5"^ 


ii 


some  seventy  miles  in  a  right  line,  was  through  the 
hummocks  at  this  appalling  temperature. 

''  One  by  one  they  all  came  in  and  were  housed. 
Poor  fellows !  as  they  threw  open  their  Esquimaux  gar- 
ments by  the  stove,  how  they  relished  the  scanty 
luxuries  which  we  had  to  offer  them !  The  coffee  and 
the  meatrbiscuit  soup,  and  the  molasses  and  the  wheat 
bread,  even  the  salt  pork  which  our  scurvy  forbade 
the  rest  of  us  to  touch, — how  they  relished  it  all !  For 
more  than  two  months  they  had  lived  on  frozen  seal 
and  walrus-meat. 

'•  I  cannot  croAvd  the  details  of  their  journey  into  my 
diary.  I  have  noted  some  of  them  from  Dr.  Hayes's 
words ;  but  he  has  promised  me  a  written  report,  and 
1  wait  for  it.  It  Avas  providential  that  they  did  not 
stop  for  Petersen's  return  or  rely  on  the  engagements 
which  his  Esquimaux  attendants  had  made  to  them  as 
well  as  to  us.  The  sletlgcs  that  carried  our  relief 
of  provisions  passed  through  the  Etah  settlement 
on  some  furtive  project,  we  know  not  what. 

''  December  25,  Christmas,  All  together  again,  the 
returned  and  'he  steadfast,  we  ^at  down  to  our  Christ- 
mas dirner.  There  was  more  love  tlian  with  the 
stalled  ox  of  former  times ;  but  of  herbs  none.  We 
forgot  oiu-  discomforts  in  the  blessings  that  adhered 
to  us  still ;  and  when  we  thought  of  the  long  road 
ahead  3f  us,  we  thought  of  it  hopefully.  I  pledged 
myself"  to  give  them  their  next  Christtnas  with  their 
homes ;  and  each  of  us  drank  his '  absent  friends '  with 
ferocious  zeal  over  one-eighteenth  ])avt  of  a  bottle  of 
sillery — the  last  of  its  hamper,  and,  alas !  no  longer 
mousseiix. 

"  December  26.  The  moon  is  nearly  above  the 
cliflsj  the  thermometer  — 57°  to  — 45°,  the  mean  of 


I 


I. 


f 


'i 


|a 


Hi 


H 


it  i  :j 


iM 


i 


mmn 


wm 


I        ! 


578      ATTEMPT    TO    REACH    THE    ESQUIMAUX, 

the  past  four  days.  In  the  midst  of  this  cheering  con- 
junction, I  have  ahead  of  me  a  journey  of  a  hundred 
miles,  to  say  nothing  of  the  return.  Worse  than  this, 
I  have  no  landmarks  to  guiide  jiic,  and  must  be  my 
own  pioneei'.  It  is  a  nievcifid  change  of  conditions 
that  I  am  the  strongest  :now  of  the  whole'  party,  as 
last  winter  I  was  the  weakest.  The  duty  of  collect- 
ing food  is  on  me. 

"  December  28.  The  moon  to-morrow  will  be  for 
twelve  liours  above  the  l.orizon,  and  so  nearly  circum- 
polar  afterward  as  to  justify  me  in  the  attempt  to 
reach  the  Esquimaux  hunting-ground  about  Cape  Al- 
exander. Every  thing  is  ready ;  and,  God  willing,  I 
start  to-morrow,  and  pass  the  foar-hours'  dog-halt  in 
the  untenanted  hut  of  Anoatok.  Then  we  have,  as 
it  may  l>e,  a  fifteen,  eighteen,  or  twenty  hours'  march, 
run  and  drive,  before  we  reach  a  shelter  among  the 

heathen  of  the  Bay. 

"  January  22.  Busy  preparing  for  a  trip  to  the 
lower  Esquimaux  settlement.  The  l)arometer  remains 
at  the  extraordinary  height  of  3085, — a  bad  prelude 
to  a  journey ! 

"January  29.  The  dogs  carried  us  to  the  lower 
curve  of  the  reach  before  breaking  down.  I  was  just 
beginning  to  hope  for  an  easy  voyage,  when  Toodla 
and  the  Big  Yellow  gave  way  nearly  together;  the 
latter  frightfully  contorted  by  convulsions.  There  was 
no  remedy  for  it:  the  moon  went  down,  and  the 
wretched  night  was  upon  us.  "We  groped  along  the 
ice-foot,  and,  after  fourteen  hours'  painful  walking, 
reached  the  old  hut. 

"  A  dark  water-sky  extended  in  a  wedge  from  Lit- 
tleton to  a  point  north  of  the  cape.  Everywhere  else 
the  lirmament  was  obscured  by  mist.     The  height  of 


THE   BniO  IX  HER  WINTER  CRADLE. 


APTUOACniNO    THE  DESERTED  nUT. 


THE  npE.N  W.VTEn. 


i\ 


( 


THE    HUT    IN    A    STORM. 


681 


tlie  barometer  continued  as  we  left  it  at  the  brig,  and 
our  own  sensations  of  warmth  conN'mced  us  that  we 
were  about  to  have  a  snow-storm. 

"  We  hardly  expected  to  meet  the  Esquimaux  here, 
and  were  not  disappointed.  Hans  set  to  work  at  once 
to  out  out  blocks  of  snow  to  close  up  the  entrance  to 
the  hut.  I  carried  in  our  blubber-lamp,  food,  and  bed- 
ding, unharnessed  the  dogs,  and  took  them  into  the 
same  shelter.  We  were  barely  housed  before  the 
storm  broke  upon  us. 

"  Here,  completely  excluded  from  the  knowledge  of 
things  without,  wo  spent  man_y  miserable  hours.  We 
could  keep  no  note  of  time,  and,  except  by  the  whir- 
ring of  the  drift  against  the  roof  of  our  kennel,  had 
no  information  of  the  state  of  the  Avoathor.  Wo  slept, 
and  cooked  coffee,  and  drank  codec,  and  slept,  and 
cooked  coffee,  and  drank  again ;  and  when  by  our  tired 
instincts  we  thought  twelve  hours  must  have  passed, 
we  treated  ourselves  to  a  meal, — that  is  to  say,  we  di- 
vided impartial  bites  out  of  the  raw  hind-leg  of  a  fox  to 
give  zest  to  our  biscuits  spread  with  frozen  tallow. 
We  then  turned  in  to  sleep  agjun,  no  longer  heediul 
of  the  storm,  for  it  had  now  buried  us  deep  in  with 
the  snow. 

"  In  the  morning — that  is  to  say,  when  the  com- 
bined light  of  the  noonday  dawn  and  the  circum- 
polar  moon  permitted  our  escape — I  found,  by  com- 
paring the  time  as  indicated  by  the  Great  Bear  with 
the  present  increased  altitude  of  the  moon,  that  we 
had  been  pent  up  nearly  two  days.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances we  made  directly  for  the  hmmnocks,  en 
route  for  the  bay.  But  here  was  a  disastrous  change. 
The  snow  had  accumulated  under  the  windward  sides 
Of  the  inclined  tables  to  a  hight  so  excessive  that  we 


A   it 
nil 


i 


682 


HANS  Discouu  \ ';  ed. 


buried  sledge,  dogs,  and  drivers,  in  the  efibrt  to  work 
through.  It  was  all  in  vain  tiiat  Hans  and  I  har- 
nessed ourselves  to,  or  lifted,  levered,  twisted,  and 
pulled.  Utterly  exhausted  and  sick,  I  was  oMiijed  to 
give  it  up.  The  darkness  closed  in  again,  and  with 
difficulty  we  regained  the  igloe. 

"The  ensuing  night  brought  a  return  to  hard  freez- 
ing temperatures.  Our  luxurious  and  doAvny  coverlet 
was  a  stilf,  clotted  lump  of  ice.  In  spite  of  our  double 
lamp,  it  was  a  miserable  halt.  Our  provisions  grew 
short;  the  snow  kept  on  falling, and  we  had  still  forty- 
six  miles  between  us  and  the  Esquimaux. 

"I  determined  to  try  the  land  ice  l)y  Fog  Inlet; 
and  we  worked  four  hours  upon  this  without  a  breath- 
ing-spell,— utterly  in  vain.  My  poor  Es(]uimaux, 
Hans,  adventurous  and  buoyant  as  he  was,  began  to 
cry  like  a  child.  Sick,  worn  out,  strength  gone,  dogs 
fast  and  floundering,  I  am  not  asliamed  to  admit  that 
as  I  thought  of  the  sick  men  on  board,  my  own  equa- 
nimity also  was  at  fault. 

"  We  had  not  been  able  to  got  the  dogs  out,  when 
the  big  moon  appeared  above  the  water-smoke.  A 
familiar  hill, '  Old  Beacon  Knob,'  was  near.  I  scram- 
bled to  its  top  and  reconnoitered  the  coast  aroimd  it. 
The  ridge  about  Cape  Ilatherton  seemed  to  jut  out  of 
a  perfect  chaos  of  broken  ice.  The  water — that  inex- 
plicable North  Water — was  there,  a  long  black  wedge, 
overhung  by  crapy  wreaths  of  smoke,  running  to  the 
northward  and  eastward.  Better  than  all  jet, — could 
I  be  deceived? — a  trough  through  the  hummock- 
ridges,  and  level  plains  of  ice  stretching  to  the  south. 

"Hans  heard  my  halloo,  and  came  up  to  confirm  me. 
But  for  our  disabled  dogs  and  the  waning  moon-light, 
we  could  easily  have  made  our  journey.    It  was  with 


eif 

thd 

m^ 

of  I 

to 

h'M 

th^ 

en< 

W( 

me 


1 


DAY     DREAMS. 


583 


a  reioi(!r'(l  heart  that  I  made  my  \\i\y  l)ack  to  our  mis- 
erable little  cavern,  and  re.stulled  it;^  gaping  entrance 
with  the  snuw.  We  had  no  blubber,  and  <>:  course  no 
fire;  but  I  knew  we  could  gain  the  brig, and  that, after 
refreshing  the  dogs  and  ourselves,  we  could  now  as- 
suredly reach  the  settlements. 

"Fel)runry  12.  llaiis  is  off  for  his  hunting-hidge, 
'over  the  hills  and  far  away,'  beyond  Charlotte  AVood 
Fiord.  T^(!  tliinks  he  can  brinijr  back  a  deer,  and  the 
chances  arc  worth  tlie  trial.  W«!  can  manage  the  small 
hunt,  Petersen  and  I,  till  he  comes  l)ack  unless  we 
break  down  too.  liit  I  do  not  like  these  symptoms 
of  mine,  and  Petersen  is  very  far  from  the  man  he 
was.  We  had  a  tramp  to-day,  both  of  us,  after  an  im- 
aginary deer, — a  hcnnisoak  that  has  jjeen  su])posod  for 
the  last  three  days  to  be  hunting  the  neighborhood 
of  the  waterpools  of  the  brig  lioTd,  and  have  come 
back  jaded  and  sad.  If  Hans  gives  way,  tjod  help 
us!" 

"  We  worked  on  board — those  of  us  who  could  Avork 
at  all — at  arranging  a  new  gangway  w'ith  a  more  gen- 
tle slope,  to  let  some  of  the  paity  crawl  up  from  their 
hospital  into  the  air.  We  were  six,  all  told,  out  of 
eighteen,  wdio  ooidd  affect  to  hunt,  cook,  or  nurse. 

"  Meanwhile  we  tried  to  dream  of  commerce  with 
the  Esquimaux,  and  open  water  and  home.  For  myself, 
my  thoughts  liave  occupation  enough  in  the  question 
of  our  closing  labors.  I  never  lost  my  hope.  I  looked 
to  the  coming  spring  as  fidl  of  responsibilities ;  but  1 
had  bodily  strength  and  moral  tone  enough  to  look 
through  them  to  the  end.  A  trust,  based  on  experi- 
ence as  well  as  on  promises,  buoyed  me  up  at  the 
worst  of  times.  Call  it  fatalism,  as  you  ignorantly 
may,  there  is  that  in  the  story  of  every  eventful  life 


I 


V\ 


584 


THE    COMING    DAWN. 


which  teaches  the  inefTiciency  of  human  means  and 
the  present  control  of  a  Supreme  Agency.  See  how 
often  rehef  has  come  at  the  moment  of  extremitv,  in 
forms  strangely  imsouglit,  ahnost  at  the  time  iniwel- 
eome  ;  see,  still  more,  how  the  back  has  been  strength- 
ened to  its  increasing  burden,  and  the  heart  cheered 
by  some  unconscious  influence  of  an  imsien  P'^wer. 

''  February  21.  To-day  the  crests  of  the  northeast 
headland  were  gilded  by  true  sunshine,  and  all  who 
were  able  assembled  on  deck  to  greet  it.  Tlie  sun 
rose  above  the  horizon,  though  still  screened  from  our 
eyes  by  interveninu,-  hills.  Although  the  powerful  re- 
fraction of  Polar  latitudes  hei-alds  his  direct  appear- 
ance by  brilliant  light,  this  is  as  far  I'cmoved  from 
the  glorious  tints  of  day  as  it  is  from  the  mere  twi- 
light. •Nevertheless,  for  the  past  trn  days  we  have 
been  watching  the  gi-owiug  waruith  ol'  our  landscape, 
as  it  emerged  from  burled  shadow,  through  all  the 
stages  of  distinctness  of  an  India-ink  washing,  step  by 
step,  into  the  sharp,  bold  definition  of  our  desolate 
harbor  scer«e.  Wo  have  marked  every  dash  of  color 
which  the  great  Painter  in  his  benevolence  vouchsafed 
to  us;  and  now  the  empurpled  blues,  clear,  mnnistak- 
able,  the  spreading  lake,  the  flickering  j-ellow :  peer- 
ing at  all  these,  poor  wretches !  everything  seemed 
superlative  luster  and  imsurpassable  glory.  We  had 
BO  grovelled  in  darkness  that  we  oversaw  the  light. 

"February  22.  Washington's  birthday  :  all  our  col- 
ors flying  in  the  new  sunlight.  A  day  of  good  omen, 
even  to  the  sojourners  among  the  ice.  Hans  comes 
in  vith  great  news.  lie  has  had  a  shot  at  our  ben- 
nes(  ak,  a  long  shot ;  but  it  reached  him.  The  ani- 
mal made  oft'  at  a  slow  run,  but  we  are  sure  of  him 
now.     This  same  deer  has  been  hanging  round  the 


AHCTIC   8KA-0l'LLS. 


i 


EIDKR    ISLAM)    DUCKS. 


JOYFUL    NEWS. 


587 


lako  nt  the  fiord  through  all  the  diin  returning  twi- 
light; and  so  many  stories  were  told  ol' his  a[)pear- 
ance  and  movements  tiiat  he  liad  almost  grown  into  a 
myth. 

"  23.  Hans  was  out  early  this  morning  on  the  trail 
of  the  wounded  deer.  Rliina,  the  least  barbarous  of 
our  .sle«lge-dogs.  assisted  liim.  lie  was  back  by  noon 
with  the  joyful  new.', 'The  tukkuk  dead  only  two 
miles  np  big  fiord  !'  The  ct}^  found  its  way  through 
the  hatch,  and  eam»r  lack  in  a  broken  huzxa  from  the 
sick  men. 

"  Feln'uary  25,  Sunday.  The  day  of  rest  for  those 
to  whom  rest  can  Lo  ;  the  day  of  grateful  recognition 
for  all!  John,  our  volunteer  cook  of  yesterday,  is 
down :  Morton,  who  could  crawl  out  of  bed  to  play 
baker  for  the  party,  and  stood  to  it  manfully  ^^esterday, 
is  down  too.  I  have  just  one  man  left  to  help  me  in 
caring  for  the  sick.  Hans  and  Petersou,  thank  Hod! 
have  vitality  enough  left  to  bear  the  toils  of  the  hunt. 
One  is  out  with  his  rifle,  the  other  searching  the 
traps. 

"To-day,  blessed  be  the  Great  Author  of  Light !  I 
have  once  moi-e  looked  upon  the  sun.  I  was  stand- 
ing on  deck,  thiuklug  over  our  prospects,  when  a  fa- 
miliar berg,  which  had  long  been  hid  in  sliadow, 
flashed  out  in  sun-birth.  I  kneTr  this  I)erg  right  mcU  : 
it  st(Jod  between  Chai-lotte  W(K>d  Fiord  and  Little 
Willie's  Moniunent.  One  vtvn-  and  one  (la\  au'O  I 
traveled  toward  it  from  Fern  Rock  to  catch  the  sun- 
shine. Then  I  had  to  climb  th<  hills  beyond,  to  get 
th(!  luxury'  of  basking  in  its  brightness;  ItuI  now, 
though  the  sun  was  but  n  >iugle  dcgi'ec  above  the  true 
horizon,  it  was  so  much  elevated  by  refraction  tliat  the 
sheen  stretched  across  the  trough  of  the  liord  like  a 


•  i: 


■i 


m 


Id  .Ji 


1 


688 


A    SUN-WORSUIPER. 


■■\  h\: 


m 


m^^. 


flaming  tongue.  I  could  not  or  would  not  resist  the  in- 
fluence. It  Avas  a  Sunday  act  of  worship  :  I  started  off  at 
an  even  run,  and  caught  him  as  lit  rolled  slowly  along 
the  horizon,  and  before  he  sank.  I  Avas  again  the  first 
of  my  party  to  rejoice  and  meditate  in  sunshine.  It 
is  the  third  sun  I  have  seen  rise  for  a  moment  above 
the  lonff"  nityhtof  an  Arctic  wiiuer. 

"  I  spare  myself  as  well  as  the  readers  of  this  hast- 
ily-compiled volume,  when  I  pass  summarily  over  the 
details  of  our  condition  at  this  time. 

"I  look  back  at  it  with  recollections  like  those  of  a 
nightmare.  Yet  I  was  ])orne  up  wonderfidly.  I  never 
doubted  for  an  instant  that  the  same  Providence  which 
had  guarded  us  through  the  long  darkness  of  Avinter 
was  still  watching  over  us  for  good,  and  that  it  was 
yet  in  reserve  for  us — for  some ;  I  dared  not  hope  for 
all — to  bear  back  the  tidings  of  our  rescue  to  a  Chris- 
tian land.     But  how  I  did  not  see. 

"  TvA'o  attempts  have  been  made  by  my  orders,  in 
February,  to  conunuuicate  with  the  E,s(|uimaux  at 
their  huts.  Both  Avere  failures.  Peterson,  Hans,  and 
Godfrey  came  back  to  denounce  the  journey  as  im- 
practicable. I  know  better:  the  experience  of  my 
two  attempts  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  satisfies  me 
that  at  this  period  of  the  year,  the  thing  can  be  done  ; 
and,  if  I  might  venture  to  leave  our  sick-bay  for  a 
week,  I  Avould  ])rove  it.  ]3ut  tlierc;  iire  disjiositions 
and  influences  here  around  me,  scarcely  latent,  yet  re- 
pressed by  my  presence,  Avhich  make  it  my  duty  at  all 
hazards  to  sta}^  Avhere  I  am. 

"On  tlie  6th  of  March,  I  made  the  desperate  ven- 
ture of  sending  olY  my  only  trusted  and  efl'ective 
huntsman  on  a  sk!(lge-journey  to  find  the  Esquimaux 
of  Etah.     He   tool'    ,vith  him  our  tAvo  surviving  dogs 


t 


. 


ii 


FAMINE    AT    ETAH. 


589 


in  our  lightest  sledge.  In  three  or  at  furthest  four 
days  more,  I  counted  on  his  return.  No  language  can 
express  the  anxiety  with  which  our  poor  suli'eriug 
crew  awaited  it. 

"March  10.  Hans  has  not  yet  returned ;  so  that 
he  must  have  reached  the  settlement,  flis  orders 
were,  it"  no  meat  be  obtained  of  the  Esquimaux, 
to  borrow  their  dogs  and  tiy  for  bears  along  the  open 
water.  In  this  resource  I  have  conlitlence.  The  days 
are  magnificent. 

"  ....  I  had  hardly  written  the  above,  when 
'  Bim,  him,  him.  V  sounded  iVora  the  deck,  mixed  with 
the  chorus  of  our  returning  dogs.  The  next  minute 
Hans  and  myself  wei'e  shaking  hands. 

'•He  had  much  to  tell  us;  to  men  in  our  condition, 
Hans  was  as  a  man  from  cities.  We  of  the  wilderness 
flocked  around  him  to  hear  the  news.  Sugar-teats  of 
raw  meat  are  passed  around.  'Speak  loud,  Hans, 
that  they  may  hear  in  tlu'  bunks.' 

"  The  'wind-loved'  Ano  itok  he  had  reached  on  the 
first  night  after  leaving  the  l)rig:  no  Esquimaux  there 
of  course ;  and  he  slept  not  ^^  .i'-rnly  at  a  temperature 
of  5o°  belli w  zero.  On  tiie  eveuing  of  the  next  day 
he  reached  Etah  Bay,  and  was  hailed  with  joyous  wel- 
come. But  a  new  phase  of  Esquimaux  life  had  come 
upon  its  indok'ut,  hapi)y.  blubber-fed  denizens.  In- 
stead of  plump,  greasy  cliildren,  and  round-cheeked 
matrons  Hans  saw  aroinid  liim  lean  figures  of  misery: 
the  men  looked  hard  and  bony,  and  tlie  children  shriv- 
elled in  the  hoods  wbich  cradled  lliem  at  their  nu)th- 
crs'  backs  Eamiue  iiad  been  among  them ;  and  the 
skin  of  a  young  sea-unicorn,  lately  caught,  was  all 
that  remained  to  them  of  food.  Even  their  dogs,  their 
main  reliance  for  the  hunt  and  for  an  escape  to  some 


. 


II J 


i  \\ 


■  1 
1 1 


t 


II      !i 


a. 


!",, 

i^ 


590 


A    WALRUS  HUNT. 


more  favored  camping-ground,  had  fallen  a  sacrifice 
to  hunger.  Only  four  remained  out  of  thirty  :  the 
rest  had  been  eaten. 

"  Hans  behaved  well,  and  carried  out  my  orders  in 
their  full  spirit.  He  proposed  to  aid  them  in  the  wal- 
rus-hunt. They  smiled  at  first  with  true  Indian  con- 
tempt :  but  when  they  saw  my  Marston  rifie^  which 
he  had  with  him,  they  changed  their  tone. 

"  I  have  not  time  to  detail  Hans's  adventurous  hunt, 
equally  important  to  the  scurvied  sick  of  Rensselaer 
and  the  starving  residents  of  Etah  Bay.  Metek 
speared  a  medium-sized  walrus,  and  Hans  gave  him  no 
less  than  five  Marston  balls  before  he  gave  up  his 
struggles.  The  beast  was  carried  ])ack  in  triumph, 
and  all  hands  fed  as  if  they  could  never  know  famine 


again. 


'•'I  had  directed  Hans  to  endeavor  to  engage  Myouk, 
if  he  could,  to  assist  him  in  hunting.  A  most  thnely 
thought:  for  the  moi'ning's  work  mfide  them  re- 
ceive the  invitation  as  a  great  favor.  Hans  got  his 
share  of  the  meat,  and  returned  to  the  brig  accompa- 
nied by  the  boy,  who  is  now  under  my  care  on  board. 
This  imp — for  he  ia  full  of  tlio  devil — has  alwiiys  had 
a  relishing  fancy  for  tlie  kicks  and  cuffs  with  which  I 
recall  the  forks  and  teaspoons  when  they  get  astray ; 
and,  to  tell  the  truth,  he  ahvays  takes  care  to  earn 
them.  He  is  very  happy,  but  so  Avasted  by  hunger 
that  the  work  of  fattening  him  will  be  a  costly  one. 
Poor  little  fi-llow!  born  to  toil  and  necessity  and  peril ; 
stern  luinter  «-  he  already  is,  the  lines  of  bis  face  are 
still  solt  and  child-like. 

"March  25.  Refraction  with  all  its  magic  is  back 
upon  us;  the  '  Delectable  Mountahis'  appear  again; 
and,  as  the  sun  has  now  worked  his  way  to  the  margin 


?,     H{ 


■mmjin  «  1,  1 1 


'Ifice 
the 

?rs  in 
;  wal- 
1  con- 
wliich 

1  hunt, 
<selaev 
jNIctek 
lihn  no 

\\p  his 
•iumph, 

famine 

Myonk, 
t  thnely 
.\ciu   rc- 
ccit  his 
iccoinpa- 
»n  board, 
vnys  had 
wli'u'li  I 
t  astray ; 
e  tooarn 
y  himger 
ostly  one. 
i\\^(\  povii  -, 
IS  laco  art' 

v'lc  y  hack 
T.r  UL«:ain  ; 
he  margin 


A 


'M^m 


I 


■mm 


THE    DELECTABLE    MOUNTAINS. 


593 


of  the  northwestern  horizon,  we  can  see  the  blaze 
stealing  out  from  the  black  portals  of  these  uplifted 
hills,  as  if  there  were  truly  beyond  it  a  celestial  gate. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  preposterous  working  of  brain 
led  me  to  compare  this  northwestern  ridge  to  Bun- 
yan's  Delectable  Mountains ;  but  there  was  a  time  only 
one  year  ago,  when  I  used  to  gaze  upon  them  with  an 
eye  of  real  longing.  Very  often,  when  they  rose  phan- 
tom-like into  the  sky,  I  would  plan  schemes  by  which 
to  reach  them,  work  over  mentally  my  hard  pilgrim- 
age across  the  ice,  and  my  escape  I'rom  Doubting 
Castle  to  this  scene  of  triumph  and  reward.  Once 
upon  your  coasts,  0  inaccessible  mountains,  I  would 
reach  the  Northern  Ocean  and  gather  together  the  rem- 
nants ol  poor  Franklin's  company.  These  would  be  to 
me  the  orchards  and  vineyards  and  running  fountains. 
The  '  Lord  of  the  Hill  would  see  in  me  a  pilgrim.' 
'  Leaning  upon  our  staves,  as  is  common  with  weary  pil- 
grims when  they  stand  to  talk  with  any  by  the  way,'  we 
would  look  down  upon  an  open  polar  sea,  refulgent 
with  northern  sunshine. 

"  April  2.  At  eleven  o'clock  this  morning  Mr.  Bon- 
sall  rej)orted  a  man  about  a  mile  from  the  Ijrig,  appa- 
rently lurking  on  the  ice-foot.  1  thought  it  was  Hans, 
and  we  l)otli  went foiward  to  meet  him.  As  we  drew 
closer  we  discovered  our  sledge  and  dog-team  near 
where  he  stood  j  but  the  man  turned  and  ran  to  the 
south. 

"I  pursued  him,  leaving  Mr.  Bonsall,  who  carried  a 
Sharps'  ritle,  bohind  ;  and  the  man,  whom  1  now  recog- 
nized to  be  (jiodfrey,  seeing  me  advance  alone,  stopped 
and  met  me.  He  told  me  that  he  had  been  to  the 
south  as  far  as  Northuml)erland  Island  ;  that  Hans  was 
lying  sick  at  Etab,  in  consequence  of  exposure ;  that 

.     Si 


^!    U 


594 


THE    DESERTER    ESCAPES. 


" 


he  himself  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go  back  and 
spend  the  rest  of  his  hfe  with  Kahitunah  and  the  Es- 
quimaux; and  that  neither  persuasion  nor  force  should 
divert  him  from  this  purpose. 

"  U})on  my  presenting  a  pistol,  I  succeeded  in  forc- 
ing him  back  to  the  gangway  of  the  brig;  but  he  re- 
fused to  go  further;  and,  being  loth  to  injure  him,  I 
left  him  under  the  guardianship  of  JNIr.  Bonsall's 
weapon  while  T  went  on  board  for  irons ;  for  both  Bon- 
sell  and  myself  were  barely  able  to  walk,  and  utterly 
incapable  of  controUitig  him  by  manual  force  and  Peter- 
sen was  out  hunting :  the  rest,  thirteen  in  all,  are 
down  with  scurvy.  I  had  just  reached  the  deck  when 
he  turned  to  run.  Mr.  Bonsall's  i)istol  failed  at  the 
cap.  I  jumped  at  once  to  the  gun-stand ;  but  my 
first  ride,  affected  by  the  cold^  went  off  in  the  act  of 
cocking,  and  a  second,  aimed  hi  haste  at  long  but 
practicable  distance,  missed  the  fugitive.  He  made 
good  his  escape  before  we  could  lay  hold  of  another 
weapon. 

"lam  now  more  anxious  than  ever  about  ILans. 
The  past  conduct  of  Godfrey  on  board,  and  his  mutin- 
ous desertion,  make  me  aware  that  he  is  capable  of 
daring  wrong  as  well  as  deception.  One  thing  is  plain. 
This  man  at  large  and  his  comrade  still  on  board,  the 
safety  of  the  whole  company  exacts  t!:e  sternest  ob- 
servance of  discipline.  I  have  called  irfl  hands,  and  an- 
nounced it  as  a  standing  order  of  tbe  shi]),and  one  to  be 
observed  inflexiblj^,  that  desertion,  or  the  attempt  to 
desert,  shall  be  met  at  once  by  the  sternest  penalty. 
I  have  no  alternative. 

April  3.  To-day  I  detained  Petersen  from  his  hunt 
and  took  a  holiday  rest   myself, — that  is  to  say,  went 

to  bed  and sweated :  to-morrow  I  promise  as  much 

for  Bonsall. 


• 


fir 


tbi: 

whi(| 

.'It,   i[ 

by  t 

.•-■nllj 

We 

ainoi 

hearl 

homi 

not 


A    MORNING    IN    THE    CABIN. 


595 


«  While  here  in  bed  I  will  give  the  routine  of  a  day 
in  this  spring-tinio  of  year : 

"At  7:30  call  'all  hands;'  which  means  that  one  of 
the  well  trio  waken  the  other  two.  Tiiis  order  is 
obeyed  slowly.  Tlie  commander  confesses  for  liinisclf 
that  the  breakfast  is  well-nigh  upon  the  table  before  he 
gets  his  stiff  ankles  to  the  floor.  Looking  nmund,  he 
sees  the  usual  mosaic  of  sleepers  as  ingeniously  dove- 
tailed and  crowded  together  as  the  campers-out  in  a 
buffalo-bag.  He  winds  his  way  through  thorn,  and,  as 
he  does  so,  some  stereotyped  remarks  are  interchanged. 
'Thomas!' — our  ex-cook,  now  side  by  side  Avitli  the 
first  officer  of  the  expedition, — 'Thomas,  turn  out!' 
'  Eugh-ng,  sir.  '  Turn  out ;  get  up.*  Ys-sir;' (sits  bolt 
upright,  and  rubs  his  eyes.)  'How  d'you  feel,  Mr. 
Ohlsen  ?'  '  Better,  sir.'  '  Ilow've  you  passed  the  night, 
Mr.  Brooks?'  'Middlin',  sir.'  And  after  a  diversified 
series  of  spavined  elTorts,  the  m3'stical  number  forms 
its  triangle  at  the  table. 

*'  It  still  stands  in  its  simple  dignity,  an  unclothed 
platform  of  boards,  with  a  pile  of  plates  in  the  center. 
Near  these  is  a  virtuoso  collection  of  cups  grouped  in  a 
tumidus  or  cairn,  commencing  philosophically  at  the 
base  Avith  heavy  stoneware,  and  ending  with  battered 
tin:  the  absolute  pinnacle  a  debased  dredging  box, 
which  makes  a  bad  goblet,  being  unpleasantly  sharp 
at  its  rim.  At  one  end  of  this  table,  partly  hid 
by  the  beer-barrel,  stands  Petersen ;  at  the  side.  Bon- 
sai) ;  and  a  lime-juice  cask  opposite  makes  my  seat. 
We  are  all  standino;:  a  momentarv  hush  is  made 
among  the  sick ;  and  the  daily  prayer  comes  with  one 
heart: — 'Accept  our  gratitude,  and  restore  us  to  our 
homes.' 

'*  The  act  of  devotion  over,  wo  sit  down,  and  look- 
not  at  the  breakfast,  but  at  each  other. 


!«' 


i: 


if.] 


,  ' ' 


i :    i 


596 


SHUNGHU'S    DAUGHTER. 


"April  10,  Tuesday.  I  left  the  brig  at  10 J  a.m., 
with  but  five  dogs  and  a  load  so  light  as  to  be  hardly 
felt.  My  dogs,  in  spite  of  low  feeding,  carried  me 
sixty-four  miles  in  eleven  hours. 

"  Faithful  Hans !  Dear  good  follower  and  friend  ! 
I  was  out  on  the  floes  just  beyond  the  headlands  of 
our  old  '  Refuge  Harbor,'  when  I  made  out  a  black 
far  in  to  shoreward.  Refraction  will  deceive  a  novice 
on  the  ice ;  but  we  have  learned  to  bailie  refraction. 
By  sighting  the  suspected  object  with  your  rifle  at  rest, 
you  soon  detect  motion.  It  was  a  living  animal — a 
man.  Shoreward  went  the  sledge;  off  sprang  the 
dogs  ten  miles  an  hour,  their  driver  yelling  the  famil- 
iar provocative  to  speed,  '  Nannook !  nannook!'  'A 
bear!   a  bear!'  at  the  top  of  his  lungs. 

"  There  was  no  room  for  mistaking  the  methodical 
steal-stalking  gait  of  Hans.  He  hardly  varied  from  it 
as  we  came  near ;  but  in  about  fifteen  minutes  we 
were  shaking  hands  and  jabbering,  in  a  patois  of  Es- 
quimaux and  English,  our  mutual  news.  The  poor 
fellow  had  been  really  ill :  five  days  down  with  severe 
pains  of  limbs  have  left  him  still  a 'little  veek ;' 
which  means  with  Hans  well  used  up.  I  stuck  him 
on  the  sledge  and  carried  him  to  Anoatok. 

"  In  this  sickness,  he  told  me,  he  was  waited  on 
most  carefully  at  the  settlement.  A  young  daughter 
of  Sliunghu  elected  herself  his  nurse,  and  her  sympa- 
thies find  smiles  have,  I  fear,  made  an  impression  on 
his  heart  which  a  certain  damsel  near  Upernavik 
might  be  sorry  to  hear  of 

"  April  18.  I  am  just  off  a  two  hundred  miles'  jour- 
ney, bringing  back  my  deserter,  and,  what  is  perhaps 
quite  as  important,  a  sledge-load  of  choice  walrus- 
cuts. 


cc 
m 


CAPTURE    OF     OUR    DESERTER. 


597 


"  I  found  from  ITana  that  his  negotiation  for  the  dogs 
had  failed,  and  that  unless  I  could  do  something  by 
individual  persuasion  I  must  give  up  my  scheme  of  a 
closing  exploration  to  the  north.  I  learned  too  that 
Godfrey  was  playing  the  great  r-uin  at  Etah,  defying 
recapture  ;  and  I  was  not  willing  to  trust  the  influence 
he  might  exert  on  my  relations  with  the  tribe.  I  de- 
termined that  he  should  return  to  the  brig. 

"I  began  by  stratagem.  I  placed  a  pair  of  foot- 
cuffs  on  Metek's  sledge,  and,  after  looking  carefully  to 
my  body-companion  six-shooter,  invited  myself  to  ride 
back  with  him  to  Etah.  His  nephew  remained  on 
board  in  chai'ge  of  Hans,  and  I  disguised  myself  so 
well  in  my  nessak  that,  as  we  moved  off,  I  could 
easily  have  passed  for  the  boy  Paulik,  whose  place  I 
had  taken. 

"  As  our  eighty  miles  drew  to  an  end,  and  that 
which  we  call  the  settlement  came  close  in  view,  its 
population  streamed  out  to  welcome  their  chief's  re- 
turn. Among  the  first  and  most  prominent  was  the 
individual  whom  I  desired  to  meet,  waving  his  hand 
and  shouting  *Tima!'  as  loudly  as  the  choicest  sav- 
age of  them  all.  An  instant  later,  and  I  was  at  his 
ear,  with  a  short  phrase  of  salutation  and  its  appro- 
priate gesture.  He  yielded  unconditionally  at  once, 
and,  after  walking  and  running  by  turns  for  some 
eighty  miles  before  the  sledge,  with  a  short  respite  at 
Anoatok,  is  now  a  prisoner  on  board. 

"  My  remaining  errand  at  Etah  was  almost  as  suc- 
cessful. The  inmates  of  the  burrows  swarmed  around 
me  as  I  arrived.  *  Nalegak !  nalegak !  tima  I '  was 
yelled  in  chorus :  never  seemed  people  more  anxious 
to  piopitiate,  or  more  pleased  with  an  unexpected 
visit.     But  they  were  airily  clad,  and  it  blew  a  north- 


ih; 


\ 


10' 

k 


i 


If  I  !' 


;U--iH 


■r 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


fe 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


I 


2.8 


25 
2.2 

2.0 


1.8 


U    IIIIIL6 


/ 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STRf  ET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MS80 

(716)  873-4S03 


1 


/l 


^ 


o^ 


^ 


■  ^—^^—^■^•m 


698 


A    VISIT    TO    ETAn. 


wester ;  and  they  soon  crowded  back  into  their  ant- 
hill. Meantime  preparations  were  making  for  my  in- 
door reception,  and  after  a  little  while  Metek  and  my- 
self crawled  in  on  hands  and  knees,  through  an  extra- 
ordinary tossut  thirty  paces  long.  As  I  emerged  on 
the  inside,  the  salute  of '  nalegak'  was  repeated  with 
an  increase  of  energy  that  was  anything  but  pleas- 
ant. . 

"There  were  guests  before  me, — six  sturdy  deni- 
zens of  the  neighboring  settlement.  They  had  been 
overtaken  by  the  storm  Avhile  hunting,  and  were  al- 
ready crowded  upon  the  central  dais  of  honor.  They 
united  in  the  yell  of  welcome,  and  I  soon  found  my- 
self gasping  the  anmioniacal  steam  of  some  fourteen 
vigorous,  amply-fed,  unwashed,  unclothed  fellow-lodg- 
ers. No  hy|)erbolo  could  exaggerate  that  which  in 
serious  earnest  I  give  as  the  truth.  The  platform  meas- 
ured but  s'jven  feet  in  breadth  by  six  in  deptli,  thj 
shape  being  semi  elliptical.  Upon  this,  including 
children  and  excluding  myself,  were  bestowed  thir- 
teen persons. 

"The  kotluk  of  each  matron  was  glowing  with  a 
flamc:  sixteen  inches  long.  A  tlipper-quarter  of  Aval- 
rus,  which  lay  frozen  on  the  floor  of  the  netek,  Avas  cut 
into  s  :eaks ;  and  the  kolopsuis  began  to  smoke  with  a 
burden  of  ten  or  fifteen  pounds  ajjiece.  Metck,  with  a 
little  amateur  aid  I'rom  sc  ne  of  the  sleepers,  emptied 
these  without  my  assistance.  I  had  the  most  cordial 
invitation  to  precede  them ;  but  I  had  seen  enough  of 
the  culinary  regime  to  render  it  impossible.  I  broke 
my  fast  on  a  handful  of  frozen  liver-nuts  that  Bill 
brouj'ht  mo,  and,  bursting  out  into  a  profuse  perspira- 
tion, 1  stripped  like  the  rest,  threw  my  well-tired  car- 
cass across  Mrs.  Eider-duck's  extremities,  put  her  left* 


. 


TIIK    ATHK    on    SKAL-IKH.K. 


WaI-HIH     SI'OllTlNd 


L 


A    NOBLE    SAVAGE. 


601 


hand  baby  under  my  armpit,  pillowed  my  head  onMy- 
ouk's  sonie\fliat  warm  stomach,  and  thus,  an  honored 
guest  and  in  the  place  of  honor,  fell  asleep. 

"We  continued  toiling  on  with  our  complicated  pre- 
parations till  the  evening  of  the  24th,  when  Hans 
,  came  back  well  laden  with  walrus-meat.  Three  of  the 
Esquimaux  accompanied  him,  each  with  his  sletlge  and 
dog-team  fuU}'^  equipped  for  a  hunt.  The  leader  of 
the  party,  Kalutunah,  was  a  noble  savago,  greatly  supe- 
rior in  every  thing  to  the  others  of  his  race.  He 
greeted  me  with  respectful  courtesy,  3'et  as  one  who 
might  rightfully  expect  an  equal  measure  of  it  in  re- 
turn, and,  after  a  short  interchange  of  salutations,  seat- 
ed himself  in  the  post  of  honov  at  my  side. 

"  I  waited  of  course  till  the  company  had  fed  and 
slept,  for  among  savages  especially  haste  is  indecoroas, 
and  then,  after  distributing  a  few  presents,  opened  to 
them  my  project  of  a  northern  exploration.  Kalutu- 
nah received  his  knife  and  needles  with  a'Kuyanaka,' 
'I  thank  you:' the  lirst  thanks  I  have  heard  from  a 
native  of  this  upper  region.  He  called  me  his  friend, 
— '  Asaknoteet,' '  I  love  you  well,' — and  would  be  happy, 
he  said,  to  join  the  '  nalegak-soak '  in  a  hunt. 

"  We  started  with  a  wild  yell  of  dogs  and  men 
in  chorus,  Kalutunah  and  myself  leading.  We  halted 
about  thirty  miles  north  of  the  brig,  after  edging 
along  the  coast  about  thirty  miles  to  the  eastward. 
Here  kShanihu  l)urrowed  into  a  snow-bank  and  slept, 
the  thermonu^ter  standing  at  — 80°.  The  rest  of  us 
turned  in  to  lunch. 

"The  journey  begun  :ii:;iii)  its  the  loast  closed,  and 
we  should  have  ac(oniplished  my  wishes  had  it  not 
been  for  the  untoward  inlluence  of  sundry  l)ears.  The 
tracks  of  these  animals  were  becoming  more  and  more 


.( 


602 


^ 


A    BEAK    HUNT. 


m 


numerous  as  we  rounded  one  iceberg  after  another ; 
and  we  could  see  the  beds  they  had  worn  in  the  snow 
while  watching  for  seal.  These  swayed  the  dogs  from 
their  courae :  yet  we  kept  edging  onward  ;  and  when 
in  sight  of  the  northern  coast,  about  thirty  miles  from 
the  central  peak  of  the  '  Thret  Brothers,'  I  saw  a  deep 
band  of  stratus  lying  over  the  hori/.oii  in  the  direction 
of  Kennedy  Channel.  This  water-sky  indicated  the 
continued  opening  of  the  channel,  and  made  me  more 
deeply  anxious  to  proceed.  But  at  tiiis  moment  our 
dogs  encountered  a  large  male  bear  in  the  act  of  de- 
vouring a  seal.  The  impulse  was  irresistible:  I  lost 
all  control  over  both  dogs  and  drivers.  They 
seemed  dead  to  every  thing  but  the  passion  o^  pur- 
suit. OfT  thoy  sped  with  incredible  swiftness ;  the 
Esquimaux  clinging  to  their  sledges  and  clioering 
their  dogs  with  loud  cries  o^ '  Nannook !'  A  mad,  wild 
chase,  wilder  than  German  legend, — the  dog^,  \V(dves; 
the  drivers,  devils.  After  a  furious  run  the  animal 
was  brought  to  bay ;  the  lance  and  the  rifle  did  their 
work,  and  we  halted  for  a  general  feed.  The  dogs 
gorged  themselves,  the  drivers  did  as  much,  and  we 
buried  the  remainder  of  the  carcass  in  the  snow. 

"  We  took  a  four  hoiys'  sleep  on  the  oj)en  ice,  the 
most  uncomfortable  that  1  remember.  Our  fatigue 
had  made  U3  dispense  with  the  snow-house;  and 
though  I  was  heavily  clad  in  a  full  suit  of  furs,  and 
squeezed  myself  in  between  Kalutunah  and  Shanghu, 
I  could  not  bear  the  inten.se  temperature.  I  rose  in 
the  morning  stiff  and  sore.  I  mention  it  as  a  trait  of 
nobleness  on  the  part  of  Kalutunah,  which  I  appreci- 
ated very  sensibly  at  the  time,  that,  seeing  me  sufTer, 
he  took  his  kapetah  from  his  back  and  placed  it 
around  my  feet.  *   • 


I 


ENTERPRISING    HUNTERS. 


603 


"  Tlie  next  day  I  tried  again  to  mai\e  my  f  iends 
Btecr  to  the  nnrtlnvard.  liiit  the  bcais  were  most  nu- 
merous upon  the  (Ireenland  side;  and  thoy  determined 
to  push  on  toward  the  ghicier.  All  my  remonstran- 
ces and  urgent  entreaties  were  iniavailing  to  make 
them  resmno  tlieir  promised  route. 

"  I  found  now  that  my  projected  survey  of  the 
northern  coast  must  he  abandoned,  at  least  for  the 
time.  My  next  wish  was  to  get  back  to  the  brig,  and 
to  negotiate  with  Metek  for  a  purchase  or  loan  of 
his  dogs  as  my  last  chance,  liut  c-von  this  was  not 
reodily  gratilied.  All  of  Saturday  was  spent  in  bear- 
hunting.  The  natives,  as  indomitable  as  their  dogs, 
made  the  entire  circuit  of  Dallas  Bay,  and  finally 
halted  again  under  one  of  the  islands  which  group 
themselves  between  the  headlands  of  Advance  Bay 
and  at  the  base  of  the  glacier." 


CHAPTER  XXXn. 

DR.  KANE'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 

V  (continued.) 

"  The  (letailetl  prej)aratlons  for  our  escape  would 
have  Uttle  interest  for  the  general  reader ;  but  they 
were  so  arduous  and  so  important  that  I  cannot  pass 
them  by  without  a  special  notice.  They  had  been 
begun  from  an  early  day  of  the  fall,  and  had  not  been 
entirely  intennittod  during  our  severest  winter-trials. 

"  Recogni/.ing  the  importance  of  acting  directly  upon 
the  men's  minds,  my  lirst  step  now  was  to  issue  a  gen- 
eral order  appointing  a  certain  day,  the  17th  of  May, 
for  setting  out.  Every  man  had  twenty-four  hours 
given  hhn  to  select  and  get  ready  his  eight  pounds 
of  personal  elTocts.  After  that,  his  time  was  to  cease 
to  be  liji  own  for  any  purpose. 

'•I  tri^id  my  best  also  to  fix  and  diffn.'^e  impressions 
that  we  were  going  home.  But  in  this  I  was  not  al- 
ways successful :  I  was  displea.sed,  indeed,  wiih  the 
moody  indilforencc  with  which  many  went  about  the 
tasks  to  which  I  put  them.  The  completeness  of  my 
preparations  I  know  had  its  influence  ;  but  there  were 
many  doul)tcrs.  Some  were  convinced  that  my  only 
ol>jcct  Avas  to  move  farther  south,  retaining  tlie  brig, 
however,  as  a  home  to  retreat  to.  Others  whispered 
that  I  wanted  to  transport  the  sick  to  the  hunting- 
grounds  and  other  resources  of  the  lower  settlements^ 

604 


K 
o 
o 


II 


V 


. 


PREPARATIONS    FOR    STARTING    SOUTH.      607 

which  I  had  such  difficulty  in  preventing  the  muti- 
nous from  Hccuring  for  themselves  alone.  A  lew  of  a 
more  cheerful  spirit  thought  I  had  resolved  to  make 
for  some  point  of  look-out,  in  the  hope  of  a  rescue  by 
whalers  or  English  expedition  parties  which  were  suj)- 
posed  still  to  be  within  the  Arctic  circle.  The  number 
is  unfortunately  small  of  thos-*  human  beings  whom 
calamity  elevates. 

"  There  was  no  sign  of  affectation  of  spirited  enthusi- 
asm upon  the  memorable  day  when  we  first  adjusted  the 
boats  to  their  cradlos  on  the  sledges  and  moved  them 
off  to  the  ice-foot.  But  the  ice  immediatcl}'  around 
the  vessel  was  smooth;  and,  as  the  boats  had  not  re- 
ceived their  lading,  the  first  labor  was  an  easy  one. 
As  the  runners  moved,  the  gloom  of  several  ^ounte- 
nanoes  was  perceptibly  liglitened.  The  cioakers  had 
protested  that  we  could  not  stir  an  inch.  These  cheer- 
ing remarks  always  reach  a  commander's  ears,  and  I 
look  good  care  of  course  to  make  the  outset  contra- 
dict them.  By  the  time  Ave  reached  the  end  of  our 
little  level,  the  tone  had  improved  wonderfully,  and 
we  were  prepared  for  the  effort  of  crossing  the  suc- 
cessive lines  of  the  belt-ice  and  forcing  a  way  through 
the  smashed  material  which  interj)Osed  between  us  and 
the  ice-foot. 

"  This  was  a  work  of  great  difficvdty, and  sorrowfully 
exhausting  to  the  poor  fellows  not  yet  accustomed  to 
heave  together.  But  in  the  end  1  had  the  satisfaction, 
before  twenty-four  hours  were  over,  of  seeing  our  lit- 
tle arks  of  safety  linulcd  upon  the  IultIkm'  |)lniu>of  the 
icefoot,  in  full  trim  for  ornamental  exhibition  from 
the  brig ;  their  neat  canvas  housing  rigged  tentrfash- 
ion  over  the  entire  length  of  each ;  a  jaunty  little  flag 
made  out  of  one  of  the  commander's  obsolete  linen 


608 


PAEEWELL    TO    THE    DRIG. 


ehirtH,  decorated  in  stripes  from  a  disused  article  of 
statioiierv,  the  red  ink-bottle,  and  with  ii  verv  little  of 
the  bliu'ba^  in  the  star-spangled  corner.  All  liandn 
after  this  returned  on  board:  I  had  ready  for  them 
the  best  supper  our  supplies  allorded,  and  they 
turned  in  with  nunds  i)repared  for  their  dej)arture  next 
day. 

"  Our  last  farewell  to  the  brig  was  made  with  more 
solenniity.  The  entire  ship's  comj)any  was  collected 
in  our  dismantled  winter-chamber,  to  take  part  in  the 
ceremonial.  It  was  Sunday.  Our  moss  walls  had 
been  torn  down,  and  the  wood  that  supported  them 
burned.  Our  beds  were  dlTat  the  boa's.  The  galley 
was  unfurnished  and  cold.  Every  thing  about  the  lit- 
tle den  of  refuge  was  desolate. 

"We  read  prayers  and  a  chapter  of  the  Bible;  and 
then,  all  standing  silently  round,  I  look  Sir  John 
Franklin's  portrait  from  its  frame  and  cased  it  in  an 
India-rubber  scroll.  I  next  read  the  reports  of  inspec- 
tion and  scurvy  which  had  been  made  by  the  several 
commissioners  organized  for  the  purpose,  all  of  them 
testifying  to  the  necessities  under  which  I  was  a"bout 
to  act,  I  then  addres.sed  the  party  :  I  did  not  afi'ect 
to  disguise  the  difhculties  that  were  before  us;  but  I 
assured  them  that  they  could  all  be  overcome  by  en- 
ergy and  subordination  to  command:  and  that  the 
thirteen  hundred  miles  of  ice  and  water  that  lay  be- 
tween us  and  North  Greenland  could  be  traversed 
with  safety  for  most  of  us  and  hope  for  all. 

"  I  was  met  with  a  right  spirit.  After  a  short  con- 
ference, an  engagement  was  drawn  up  l)y  one  of  the 
officers,  and  brought  to  me,  with  the  signatures  of  all 
the  company,  without  an  exception. 

"  We  then  went  upon  deck :  the  flags  were  hoisted 


■■■•■pWB^il^H 


THE    SICK    AT    ANOATOK. 


611 


and  hauled  down  again,  and  our  party  walked  once  or 
twice  around  the  bri^,  looking  at  her  timbers  and  ex- 
changing comments  upon  the  scars  which  reminded 
them  of  every  stage  of  her  dismantling.  Our  figure- 
head— the  fair  Augusta,  the  little  blue  girl  with  pink 
cheeks,  who  had  lost  her  ])reast  by  an  iceljerg  and  her 
nose  by  a  nip  oft"  Bedevilled  Reach — was  taken  from 
our  bows  and  placed  aboard  the  '  Hope.'  '  She  is  at 
any  rate  wood,'  said  the  men,  when  I  hesitated  nbout 
giving  them  the  additional  burden ;  '  and  if  \\e  can- 
not carry  her  far  we  can  burn  her.' 

"As  I  review  my  notes  of  the  first  few  days  of  our 
ice-jouruey,  I  find  them  full  of  uicidcnts  interesting 
and  even  momentous  when  they  occurred,  but  which 
cannot  claim  a  place  in  this  narrative.  The  sledges 
were  advancing  slowly,  the  men  often  discouraged, 
and  now  and  then  one  giving  way  under  the  unaccus- 
tomed labor;  the  sick  at  Anoatok  always  dreary  in 
their  solitude,  and  suHering,  pinhaps,  under  an  exacer- 
bation of  disease,  or,  like  the  rest  of  us,  from  a  pen- 
ury of  appropriate  food.  Things  looked  gloomy 
enough  at  times. 

"Taklnowith  me  Morton,  mv  faithful  adjutant  al- 
ways,  I  hurried  on  to  the  brig.  It  was  in  the  full 
glare  of  noon  that  we  ciitered  the  Jimiliar  curve  of 
Rensselaer  Buy,  The  black  spars  of  our  deserted 
vessel  cut  sharply  against  the  shores ;  there  was  the 
deepl_y  marked  snow-track  that  led  to  Observatory 
Island  and  the  graves  of  poor  IJakor  and  Schubert, 
with  their  cairn  and  it-^  white-cross  Ix-ac^on:  everything 
looked  as  when  we  defiled  in  I'unenil  prueession  round 
the  cliffs  a  year  before.  But,  as  we  came  close  upon 
the  brig  and  drove  our  dogs  up  the  gangway,  along 
which  Bonsall  and  myself  had  staggered  so  often  with 


Tf 


■ 


612 


APPROACH    TO    ETAH. 


our  daily  loads  of  ice,  we  beared  the  rustling  of  wings, 
and  a  large  raven  sailed  away  in  the  air  past  Sylvia 
Headland.  It  was  old  Magog,  one  of  a  jiair  that  had 
cautiously  haunted  near  our  brig  during  the  last  two 
years.     He  had  already  appropriated  our  homestead. 

"  We  lighted  fires  in  the  galley,  melted  pork,  baked 
a  large  batch  of  bread,  gathered  together  a  quantity 
Oi  beans  and  dried  apples,  somewhat  damaged  but  still 
eatable,  and  by  the  time  our  dogs  had  fed  and  rested, 
we  were  ready  for  the  return.  I  gave  a  last  look  at 
the  desolate  galley-stove,  the  representative  of  our 
long  winter's  fire-side,  at  the  still  bright  coppers  now 
full  of  frozen  water,  the  theodolite,  the  chart-box,  and 
poor  Wilson's  guitar, — one  more  at  the  remnant  of 
the  old  moss  walls,  the  useless  daguerreotypes,  and  the 
skeletons  of  dog  and  deer  and  bear  and  musk-ox, — 
stoppered  in  the  rigging ; — and,  that  done,  whipped 
up  my  dogs  so  much  after  the  manner  of  a  sentimen- 
talizing Christian,  that  our  pagan  Metek  raised  a 
prayer  in  their  behalf 

"It was  quite  late  in  the  evening  when  I  drew  near 
Etah.  I  mean  that  it  was  verging  on  to  our  midnight, 
the  sun  being  low  in  the  heavens,  and  the  air  breath- 
ing that  solenin  stillness  which  belongs  to  tlie  sleeping- 
time  of  birds  and  plants.  I  had  not  ((uite  reached 
the  little  settlement  when  loud  sounds  of  laughter 
came  to  my  ear ;  and,  turning  the  cape,  I  burst  sud- 
denly upon  an  encampment  of  the  inhabitants. 

"  Some  thirty  men,  women,  and  children,  were  gath- 
ered together  upon  a  little  face  of  offal-stained  rock. 
Except  a  bank  of  moss,  which  broke  the  wind-draught, 
from  the  fiord,  they  were  entirely  without  protection 
from  the  weather,  though  the  temperature  was  5°  be- 
low zero.     The  huts  were   completly  deserted,  the 


A    MIDNIGHT    FESTIVAL. 


613 


snow  tossut  had  fallen  in,  and  the  window  was  as  free 
and  open  as  summer  to  the  purifying  air.  Every  liv- 
ing thing  about  the  settlement  was  out  upon  the  bare 
rocks. 

"  Rudest  of  gypsies,  how  they  squalled,  and  laughed, 
and  snored,  and  rolled  about!  Souie  were  sucking 
bird-skins,  others  were  boiling  incredible  numbers  of 
auks  in  huge  soapstone  pots,  and  two  youngsters,  cry- 
ing, at  the  top  of  their  voices,  '  Oopeg'^oak !  Oopeg- 
soak!'  were  lighting  for  an  owl.  It  ^,as  the  only 
specimen  that  I  had  seen  except  on  the  wing ;  but,  be- 
fore I  could  secure  it,  they  had  torn  it  limb  from  limb, 
and  were  eating  its  warm  flesh  and  blood,  their  faces 
buried  among  its  dishevelled  feathers. 

"  The  scene  was  redolent  of  plenty  and  ignorance, 
the  dolcefar  niente  of  the  short-lived  Esquimaux  sum- 
mer. Pro\  ision  for  the  dark  winter  was  furthest  from 
their  thoughts ;  for,  although  the  rocks  Avere  patched 
with  sun-dried  birds,  a  single  hunting  party  from  Pe- 
teravik  could  have  eaten  up  their  entire  supphes  in  a 
single  night. 

"Before  I  left  Etah  ».n  my  return,  I  took  an  early 
stroll  with  Sip-su,  the  handsome  boy,'  to  the  lake  back 
of  my  old  traveling-route,  and  directly  under  the  Hico 
of  the  glacier. 

"  He  led  me  first  to  the  play-ground,  where  all  his 
young  friends  of  the  settlement  were  busy  in  one  of 
their  sports.  Each  of  them  had  a  Avalrus-rib  for  a 
goiph  or  shinny-stick,  and  they  were  contending  to 
drive  a  hurley,  m;i(le  out  of  the  round  knol)  of  ii  flip- 
per joint,  up  a  liank  of  frozen  snow.  Koars  of  laugh- 
ter greeted  the  impatient  striker  as  he  missed  his  blow 
at  the  shining  ball,  and  eager  cries  told  how  close  the 
match  was  drawing  to  an  end.    They  were  counting 


!i 

■! 


mufi^mmmimmmmmimmmmm 


614 


THE    SICK    IMPROVING. 


on  the  fingers  of  both  hands,  eight,  eight,  eight :  the 
game  is  ten. 

"Strange, — the  thought  intruded  itself,  but  there 
was  no  wisdom  in  it, — strange  that  these  famine- 
pinched  wanderers  of  the  ice  should  rejoice  in  sports 
and  playthings  like  the  children  of  our  own  smiling 
sky,  and  that  parents  shoidd  fashion  for  them 
toy  sledges,  and  harpoons,  and  nets,  miniature  em- 
blems of  a  life  of  suffering  and  peril !  how  strange  this 
joyous  merriment  under  the  monitory  shadow  of  these 
jagged  ice-cliffs !  My  spirit  was  oppressed  as  I  imag- 
ined the  possibility  of  our  tarrying  longer  in  these  fro- 
zen regions ;  but  it  was  ordinary  life  with  these  other 
children  of  the  same  Creator,  and  they  were  playing 
as  unconcerned  as  the  birds  that  circled  above  our 
heads.  '  Fear  not,  therefore :  ye  are  of  more  value 
than  many  sparrows.' 

"  I  was  glad  when  I  reached  the  sick-station  to  find 
things  so  much  better.  Everybody  was  stronger,  and, 
as  a  consequence,  more  cheerful.  They  had  learned 
housekeeping  with  its  courtesies  as  well  as  comforts. 
Their  kotluk  would  have  done  credit  to  Aningnah  her- 
self: they  had  a  dish  of  tea  for  us,  and  a  lump  of  wal- 
rus; and  they  bestirred  themselves  real  housewife- 
fashion,  to  give  us  the  warm  place  and  make  us  com- 
fortable. I  was  right  sorry  to  leave  them,  for  the 
snow  outside  was  drifting  with  the  gale ;  but  after  a 
little  while  the  dogs  struck  the  ti*aek  of  the  sledges, 
and,  following  it  with  imerring  instinct,  did  not  slacken 
their  pace  till  they  had  brought  us  to  our  compan- 
ions on  the  floe. 

"  They  had  wisely  halted  on  account  of  the  storm, 
and,  with  their  three  little  boats  drawn  up  side  by  side 
for  mutual  protection,  had  been  lying  to  for  the  past 


r 


i 


OUT    IN    A    GALE. 


615 


two  days,  tightly  housed,  and  moored  fast  by  whale- 
lines  to  the  ice.  But  the  drifts  had  almost  buried  the 
'  Hope,'  which  was  the  windward  boat ;  and  when  I 
saw  the  burly  form  of  Brooks  emerging  from  the 
snow-covered  roof,  I  could  have  fancied  it  a  walrus 
rising  through  the  ice. 

"  Six  Esquimaux,  three  of  them  Avomen, — the  ugly 
beauty,  Nessark's  wife,  at  the  head  of  them, — had 
come  off  to  the  boats  for  shelter  from  the  gale.  They 
seemed  so  entirely  deferential,  and  to  recognize  with 
such  simple  trust  our  mutual  relations  of  alliance,  that 
I  resolved  to  drive  down  to  Etah  with  Petersen  as  iii- 
terpreter,  and  formally  claim  assistance,  according  to 
their  own  laws,  on  the  ground  of  our  established 
brotherhood. 

"  Our  dogs  moved  slowly,  and  the  discolored  ice  ad- 
monished me  to  make  long  circuits.  As  we  neared 
Littleton  Island,  the  wind  blew  so  fiercely  from  the 
southwest,  that  I  determined  to  take  the  in-shore  chan- 
nel and  attempt  to  make  the  settlement  over  land. 
But  I  was  hardly  under  the  lee  of  the  islniid,  when 
there  broke  upon  us  one  of  the  most  fearful  gales  I 
have  ever  experienced.  It  had  the  character  and  the 
force  of  a  cyclone.  The  dogs  were  literally  blown 
from  their  harness,  and  it  was  only  by  throwing  our- 
selves oil  our  faces  that  we  saved  ourselves  from  being 
swept  away :  it  seemed  as  if  the  ice  must  give  way. 
We  availed  ourselves  of  a  momentary  lull  to  shoulder 
the  sledge,  and,  calling  the  allrighted  dogs  around 
us,  made  for  the  rocks  of  Eider  Island,  and,  after  the 
most  exhausting  exertions,  succeded  in  gaining  terra 
firma. 

"  We  struck  a  headland  on  the  main  shore,  where  a 
dark  hornblende  rock,  perhaps  thirty  feet  high,  had 

86 


!! 


616 


COMIC   misi:ry. 


formed  a  barricade,  behind  which  the  drifts  piled  them- 
selves ;  and  into  this  mound  of  snow  "we  had  just 
strength  enough  left  to  dig  a  burrow.  We  knew  it 
soon  after  as  Cape  Misery. 

"The  dogs  and  sledge  were  dragged  in,  and  Peter- 
sen and  myself,  reclining  'spoon-fashion,'  cowered 
among  them.  The  snow  piled  over  us  all,  and  we  were 
very  soon  so  roofed  in  and  quilted  round  that  the 
storm  seemed  to  rage  far  outside  of  us.  We  could 
only  hear  the  wind  droning  like  a  great  fly-wheel,  ex- 
cept when  a  surge  of  grecater  malignity  would  sweep 
up  over  our  burial-place  and  sift  the  snow  upon  the 
surface  like  hail.  Our  greatest  entmy  here  was 
warmth.  Our  fur  jumpers  had  been  lilerally  torn  off 
our  backs  by  the  wind;  but  tliu  iniitcd  respiration  of 
dogs  and  men  melted  the  snow  around  us,  and  we 
were  soon  Avet  to  the  skin. 

"  Is  it  possible  to  imagine  a  juncture  of  more  comic 
annoyance  than  that  which  now  introduced  itself 
among  the  terrors  of  our  position  V  Toodla,  our  mas- 
ter-dog, was  seized  with  a  violent  fit :  and,  as  their 
custom  is,  his  companions  indulged  in  a  family  con- 
flict upon  the  occasion,  which  was  only  uHnJiated,  after 
much  effort,  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  that  remained  of 
Petersen's  pantaloons  and  drawers. 

"  We  had  all  the  longing  for  repose  that  accompa- 
nies extreme  prostration,  and  had  been  fearing  every 
moment  that  the  combatants  would  bring  the  snow 
down  upon  us.  At  last  down  came  our  whole  canopy, 
and  we  were  exposed  in  an  instant  to  the  fury  of  the 
elements.  1  do  not  think,  often  as  1  have  gone  up  on 
deck  from  a  close  cabin  in  a  gale  at  sea,  that  1  was 
ever  more  struck  with  the  extreme  noise  and  tumult 
of  a  storm. 


BOAT    CAMP    IS    A    STOKJt. 


GOOIl-UVE    10    TIIK    Ki-yUlMAUX. 


\ 


% 


] 


I  i 


A    CRYSTAL    PALACE. 


619 


"  Once  more  snowed  up, — for  the  drift  built  its  crys- 
tal pjilaec  rapidly  about  us, — we  renininod  cramped 
and  soetliing  till  our  appetites  reminded  us  of  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  inner  man.  To  breast  the  gale  was 
simply  impossible ;  the  alternative  was  to  drive  before 
it  to  the  north  and  east.  Forty  miles  of  floundering 
travel  brought  us  in  twenty  hours  to  the  party  on  the 
floes, 

"  Still  passing  slowly  on  (\{\y  after  day, — I  am  reluc- 
tant to  borrow  from  my  journal  the  details  of  anxiety 
and  embarrassment  with  which  it  abounds  throughout 
this  period, — we  came  at  last  to  the  unmistakable 
neighborhood  of  the  open  water.  We  were  off  Peki- 
iitlik,  the  largest  of  the  Littleton  Island  group,  oppo- 
site 'Kosoak,'  the  Great  River.  Jlere  Mr.  Wilson  and 
George  Whipple  rejoined  us,  under  the  faithful  charge 
of  old  Nessark.  It  was  with  truly  thankful  hearts 
we  united  in  our  pra3''ers  that  evening. 

**  One  only  was  absent  of  all  the  party  that  re- 
mained on  our  rolls.  Hans,  the  kind  son  and  ardent 
young  lover  of  Fiskernaes,  my  well-trusted  friend,  had 
been  missing  for  nearly  two  months.  I  am  loth  to 
tell  the  story  as  I  believe  it,  for  it  may  not  be  the 
true  one,  after  all,  and  I  would  not  intimate  an  unwar- 
ranted doubt  of  the  constancy  of  bojdsh  love.  But 
I  must  explain,  as  far  as  I  can  at  least,  why  he  was  not 
with  us  when  we  fu'st  looked  at  the  open  water.  Just 
before  my  departure  for  my  April  hunt,  Hans  came  to 
me  with  a  long  face,  asking  permission  to  visit  Peteravik : 
'he  had  no  boots,  and  wanted  to  lay  in  a  stock  of 
walrus-hide  for  solos:  he  did  not  need  the  dogs ;  he 
would  rather  walk.'  It  was  a  long  march,  but  he 
was  well  practised  in  it,  and  I  consented,  of  course. 

"  Hans  the  faithful — ^yet,  I  fear,  the  faithless — was 


620 


AT    THE    OPEN    WATER. 


last  seen  upon  a  native  sledge,  driving  south  from  Peter- 
avik  with  a  maiden  at  his  side,  and  professedly  bound 
to  a  new  principality  at  Uwarrow  Suk-suk,  high  up 
Murchison's  Sound.     Alas  for  Hans,  the  married  man ! 

"June  16.  Our  boats  are  at  the  open  water.  We 
see  its  deep  indigo  horizon,  and  hear  its  roar  against 
the  icy  beach.  Its  scent  is  in  our  nostrils  and 
our  hearts.  Our  camp  is  but  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  from  the  sea :  it  is  at  the  northern  curve  of  the 
North  Baffin  polynia.  We  must  reach  it  at  the  south- 
em  sweep  of  Etah  Bay,  about  three  miles  from  Cape 
Alexander.  A  dark  lieadland  defines  the  spot.  It  is 
more  marked  than  the  southern  entrance  of  Smith's 
Straits.  How  magnificently  the  surf  beats  against  its 
sides. 

"The  Esquimaux  are  camped  by  our  side, — the 
whole  settlement  of  Etah  congregated  around  the  'big 
caldron '  of  Cape  Alexander,  to  bid  us  good-bye.  There 
are  Metek  and  Nualik  his  wife,  our  old  acquaintance 
Mrs.  Eider-duck,  and  their  five  children,  conuucncing 
with  Myoulc,  my  body-guard,  and  ending  with  the 
ventricose  little  Accomodah.  There  is  Nessark  and 
Anak  his  wife ;  and  Tellcrk  the  '  Right  Arm,'  and  Ain- 
aunalik  his  wife  ;  and  Sip  su,  and  Marsumah  and  An- 
ingnah — and  who  not?  1  can  name  them  every  one, 
and  they  know  us  as  well.  We  have  found  brothers 
in  a  strange  land. 

"  Efich  one  has  a  knife,  or  a  file,  or  a  saw,  or  some  such 
treasured  keepsake ;  and  the  children  have  a  lump  of 
soap,  the  greatest  of  all  great  medicines.  The  merry  Httle 
urchins  break  in  upon  me  even  now  as  I  am  Writing : 
— ^'Kuyanake,  kuyanake,  Nalegak-soak!'  '  Thank  you, 
thank  you,  big  chief!*  while  Myouk  is  crowding  fresh 
presents  of  raw  birds  on  me  as  if  I  could  eat  forever, 


GOOD-BYE    TO    TUB    ESQUIMAUX.         621 


and  poor  Aningnah  is  crying  beside  the  tent-curtain, 
wiping'  her  eyes  on  a  bird-skin. 

"IJut  see!  more  of  theui  are  coming  up — boys  ten 
years  old  pushing  forward  babies  on  their  sledges. 
The  whole  nation  is  gypsying  with  us  upon  the  icy 
meadows. 

"  VVe  cook  for  them  in  our  big  camp-kettle ;  they 
Bleep  in  the  Red  Eric  ;  a  berg  close  at  lumd  supplies 
them  with  water:  and  thus,  rich  in  all  thut  they  value, 
— sleep  and  food  and  drink  and  companionship, — Avith 
their  treasured  short-lived  sunmier  sun  above  them, 
the  bean  idiol  and  sum  of  Esquimaux  blessings,  they 
eeem  supremely  happy. 

"  Poor  creatures !  it  is  only  six  months  ago  that 
starvation  was  among  them:  many  of  the  faces 
around  me  have  not  yet  lost  the  lines  of  wasting  sus- 
pense. The  walrus-season  is  again  of  doubtful  produc- 
tiveiiess,  and  they  are  cut  off  from  their  brethren  to 
the  south,  at  Netelik  and  Appah,  until  winter  rebuilds 
the  avenue  of  ice.  With  all  th's,  no  thoughts  of  the 
future  cross  them.  Babies  squall,  and  women  chatter, 
and  the  men  weave  their  long  yarns  with  peals  of  rat- 
tling hearty  laughter  between. 

"  They  listened  with  breathless  interest,  closing  their 
circle  round  me ;  and,  as  Petersen  described  the  big 
ussuk,  the  white  whale,  the  bear,  and  the  long  open 
water  hunts  with  the  kayak  and  the  rifle,  they  looked 
at  each  other  with  a  significance  not  to  be  misunder- 
stood. 

"  It  was  in  the  soft  subdued  \\<^\\i  of  a  Sunday  evoning, 
June  17,  that,  after  hauling  our  boats  with  much  hard 
labor  through  hummocks,  we  stood  beside  the  open  sea- 
way. Before  midnight  we  had  launched  the  Red  Eric, 
and  given  three  cheers  for  Henry  Grinnell  and  *  home- 
ward bound,'  unfurling  all  our  flags. 


622 


EMIiAHKATION. 


1 


"But  we  were  not  yet  to  embark;  for  the  gale 
which  had  been  long  brooding  now  began  to  dash  a 
heavy  whid-lijrper  against  the  lloe,  and  obUged  us  to 
retreat  belbre  it,  hauling  our  boats  back  with  each 
fresh  breakage  of  the  ice.  It  rose  more  fiercely,  and 
we  were  obliged  to  give  way  before  it  still  more.  Our 
goods,  whicii  had  been  stacked  upon  tlie  ice,  had  to  be 
carried  farther  inward.  AVe  worked  our  way  back  thuB, 
step  by  step,  beiore  the  Ineaking  ic  •,  lor  about  two 
hundred  yards.  At  last  it  became  apparent  that  the 
men  must  sleep  and  rest,  or  sink  ;  nud,  giving  up  for 
the  present  all  thoughts  of  embarkin^',  I  hauled  the 
boats  at  once  nearly  a  mile  from  the  water's  edge, 
where  a  large  iceberg  was  frozen  tight  in  the  does. 

"The  gale  died  away  to  a  calm,  and  the  water  be- 
came as  tranquil  as  if  the  gale  had  never  been.  All 
hands  were  called  to  jjrepare  for  embarking.  The 
boats  were  stowed,  and  the  cargo  divided  between 
them  equally ;  the  sledges  inilashed  and  slung  outside 
the  gunwales;  and  on  Thursday  the  19th,  at  4  p.m., 
with  the  bay  as  smooth  as  a  garden-lake,  I  put  off  in 
the  Faith.  She  was  followed  by  the  lied  Erie  on  our 
quarter,  and  the  Hope  astern. 

"  We  crossed  Murchison  Channel  on  the  23d,  and 
encamped  for  the  night  on  the  land-tloe  at  the  base  of 
Cape  Perry ;  a  hard  day's  travel,  partly  by  tracking  over 
ice,  partly  through  tortuous  and  zigzag  leads.  The 
next  day  brought  us  to  the  nei<;hborhood  of  Fitz  Clar- 
ence Rock,  one  of  the  most  interesting  monuments 
that  rear  themselves  along  this  dreary  coast :  in  a  re- 
gion more  familiar  to  men,  it  would  be  a  landmark  to 
the  navigator.  It  rises  from  a  field  of  ice  like  an  Egyp- 
tian pyramid  surmounted  by  an  obelisk. 

«  While  the  men  slept  after  their  weary  labor.  Mo- 


A    SADDENING    VIEW. 


628 


Gary  and  myself  cllnibod  the  ))erg  for  a  view  uhoad. 
It  was  a  saddening'  one.  Every  thiiiif  nliowed  liovv  in- 
tense the  last  winter  had  been.  We  were  elose  upon 
the  1st  of  July,  and  had  a  riyht  to  look  for  the  North 
Water  of  the  whalers  where  we  now  hu«l  solid  i(!e  or 
close  paek,  botii  of  them  nhnost  equally  unliivorable 
to  oiu'  progress.  Far  ofT  in  t!kO  distanee — how  fnr  I 
could  not  measure — rose  the  Dalrymple  Koek,  pro- 
jecting from  the  lofty  precipice  of  the  island  aliead  ; 
but  hetwein  us  and  it  the  land  ice  spread  itself  from 
the  base  of  iSaunder'ei  Island  unbroken  to  the  Far 
South. 

"The  imperfect  diet  of  the  party  was  showing  itself 
more  and  more  in  the  decline  of  their  muscular 
power.  They  seemed  scarcely  aware  of  it  themselves, 
and  referred  the  dilliculty  they  found  in  dragging  and 
pushing,  to  something  unconnnon  about  the  ice  or 
sledge  rather  than  to  their  own  weakness.  But,  as 
we  endeavored  to  renew  our  labors  through  the  morn- 
ing fog,  belted  in  on  all  sides  by  ice-fields  so  distorted 
and  rugged  as  to  defy  our  eftbrts  to  cross  them,  the 
truth  Kcemed  to  burst  ui)on  every  one.  We  had  lost 
the  feeling  of  hunger,  and  were  almost  satisfied  with 
our  pasty  broth  and  the  large  draughts  of  tea  which 
accompani(>d  it.  I  was  anxious  to  send  our  small 
boat,  the  Paic,  across  to  the  lunime  hill  of  Appah, 
where  I  knew  from  the  Es(juimaux  wo  should  find 
plenty  of  birds;  but  the  strength  of  the  party  was 
insufhcient  to  drag  her. 

"We  were  soic'y  (!i.<]io;irton(>d,  nnd  could  cnly  wiiit 
for  the  fog  to  rise,  in  the  hope  of  some  smoother  plat- 
form than  that  which  w;is  about  lis,  or  some  lead 
that  might  save  us  the  painful  labor  of  tracking.  I  had 
climbed  the  iceberg ;  and  tiiere  was  nothing  in  view  ex- 
cept Dalrymple  Rock,  with  its  red  brassy  flic «'  tower- 


li 


624 


BREAK-UP    OF    THE    FLOE. 


' 


ing  in  the  unknown  distance.  Bi>t  I  hardly  got  back 
to  my  boat,  before  a  gale  struck  us  from  the  north- 
west, and  a  floe,  taking  upon  a  tongue  of  ice  about  a 
mile  to  the  north  of  us,  began  to  swing  upon  it  like 
a  pivot  and  close  slowly  in  upon  our  narrow  resting- 
place. 

"At  first  our  own  floe  also  w.as  driven  before  the 
wind  ;  but  in  a  little  whde  it  encountered  the  stationary 
ice  at  the  foot  of  the  very  rock  itself  On  the  instant 
the  wildest  imaginable  ruin  rose  around  us.  The  men 
sprang  mechanically  each  one  to  his  station,  bearing 
back  the  boats  and  stores  ;  but  I  gave  up  for  the  mo- 
ment all  hope  of  our  escape.  It  was  not  a  nip,  such  as  is 
familiar  to  Arctic  navigators;  but  the  whole  platform, 
where  we  stood  and  for  luuuh-eds  of  Viirds  on  every 
side  of  us,  crumbled  and  crushed  and  iiik'd  and  tossed 
itself  madly  under  the  press'ire.  I  do  not  believe 
that  of  our  little  body  of  men,  all  of  them  disciplined 
in  trials,  able  to  measure  danger  wliiie  coudiatting  it, 
— I  do  not  believe  there  is  one  who  this  day  can  ex- 
plain how  or  why — hardly  when,  in  fact — we  found 
ourselves  afloat.  We  only  know  that  in  the  midst  of 
a  clamor  utterly  indescribable,  through  which  the  bray- 
ing of  a  thousand  trumpets  could  no  more  have  been 
heard  than  the  voice  of  a  man,  wo  were  shaken  and 
raised  and  whirled  and  let  down  again  in  a  swelling 
waste  of  broken  hummocks,  and,  as  the  men  grasped 
their  boat-hooks  in  the  stillness  tluit  followed,  the 
boats  eddied  away  in  a  tumultuous  skreed  of  ice  and 
snow  and  water. 

"We  were  borne  along  in  this  manner  rs  long  as 
the  \uil)roken  renmant  of  the  in-shore  floe  continued 
revolving, — utterly  powerless,  and  catching  a  glimpse 
every  now  and   then  of  the   brazen   headland   that 


WEARY    MANS    UEaT. 


625 


looked  clown  on  us  through  the  pnowy  sky.  At  last 
the  floe  brought  up  .against  t!io  rocks,  the  looser  frag- 
ments thnt  hung  round  it  began  to  separate,  and  we 
were  able  by  oars  and  boat-hooks  to  force  our  battered 
little  flotilla  clear  of  them.  To  our  joyful  surprise, 
we  sO!)n  found  ourselves  in  a  stretc'i  of  the  land-water 
wide  enough  to  give  us  rowing  room,  and  with  the  as- 
sured promise  of  land  close  ahead. 

''At  thre  •  o'clock  the  tide  was  liiirh  enough  for  us  to 
scale  the  ice-clifl!  One  by  one  we  pulled  up  the  boats 
upon  a  narrow  shelf,  the  whole  sixteen  of  us  uniting  at 
each  pull.  We  were  too  much  worn  down  to  un- 
load ;  but  a  deep  and  narrow  gorue  opened  in  the 
cliffs  almost  at  the  spot  where  we  clambered  up;  and, 
as  we  pushed  the  boats  into  it  on  an  even  keel,  the 
rocks  seemed  to  close  above  our  heads,  \m!il  an  abrupt 
turn  in  the  course  of  the  ravine  placed  a  protecting 
cliff  between  us  and  the  gale.  A\'e  were  completely 
encaved. 

'•'Just  as  we  had  brought  in  the  last  boat,  the  Red 
.Eric,  and  were  shoring  her  up  wiih  blocks  of  ice,  a 
lon<i:-unheard  but  familiar  and  uu:uistakal>le  sound 
startled  and  gladdened  our  ears,  and  a  Hock  of  ciders 
flecking  the  sky  for  a  moment  pnsscd  swiftly  in  front 
of  us.  AYe  knew  that  we  must  be  at  their  breedinii- 
grounds;  and  as  we  turned  in  wet  and  hungry  to  our 
long  coveted  sleep,  it  was  only  to  dream  of  eggs  and 
abundance. 

"On  the  3d  of  July,  the  wind  began  to  moderate, 
though  the  snow  still  fell  lu'a\I]y;  nml  the  next  nioin- 
ing,  after  a  i)atriotlc  egg-nog,  the  liquor  borrowed 
grudgingl}'  from  our  alcohol-flask,  and  diluted  till  it 
was  Avorthy  of  temperance  praise, — we  lowered  our 
boats,  and  bade  a  grateful  farewell  to  '  Weary  Man's 


■ 


\r^ 


626 


THE    ESQUIMAUX    EDEN. 


y 


Rest'  We  rowed  to  the  southeast  end  of  Wosten- 
holnie  Island ;  but  the  tide  left  us  there,  and  we  moved 
to  the  ice- foot 

"  Our  descent  to  the  coast  followed  the  margin  of  the 
fast  ice.  After  passing  the  Crimson  Clifl"  of  Sir  John 
Ross,  it  wore  almost  the  dress  of  a  holiday  excursion, 
— a  rude  one  perhaps,  but  truly  one  in  leeling.  Our 
course,  except  whore  a  protruding  glacier  interfered 
with  it,  was  nearly'  parallel  to  the  shore.  The  birds 
along  it  were  rejoicing  in  the  youni;-  summer,  and 
when  we  halted  it  was  upon  some  green-clothed  cape 
near  a  stream  of  water  from  the  ice-field  above.  Our 
sportsmen  would  clamber  up  the  clifts  and  come  back 
laden  Avith  litlle  auks;  great  generous  fires  of  turf, 
that  cost  nothing  but  the  toil  of  gathering,  blazed 
merrily ;  and  our  happy  oarsmen,  alter  a  long  day's 
work,  made  easy  by  the  promise  ahead,  would  stretch 
themselves  in  the  sun^diine  and  dream  happily  away 
till  called  to  the  morning  wash  and  prayers.  We  en- 
joyed it  the  more,  for  we  all  of  us  knew  that  it  could 

not  last  ,  .  ,,  ,  t 

*         *         *         *         *  * 

"  I  was  awakened  one  evening  from  a  weary  sleep 
in  my  fox-skins,  to  discover  that  we  had  fairly  lost  our 
w^ay.  The  ollicer  at  the  helm  of  the  leading  boat, 
misled  by  the  irregular  shape  of  a  large  ieeljerg  that 
crossed  his  track,  had  lost  the  nuiin  lead  some  time 
before,  and  was  .steering  shoreward  far  out  of  the  true 
course.  The  little  canal  in  which  he  had  loeked  us 
was  hardly  two  boats'-lengths  across,  and  lost  llself  not 
far  oil'  in  a  feeble  /igzag  both  behind  and  before  us: 
it  was  evidently  dosing,  and  we  could  not  retreat 

"Without  apprising  the  men  of  our  misadventure,  I 
ordered  the  bouts  hauled  up,  aud,  under  pretence  of 


\ 


\ 


LOST    AMONG    BERGS, 


629 


drying  the  clotliing  and  stores,  made  a  camp  on  the 
ice.  A  few  hours  after,  the  weather  cleared  enough 
for  the  first  time  to  allow  a  aIcw  of  the  distance,  and 
McGary  and  myseF  climbed  a  berg  some  three  hundred 
feet  high  for  t  ,e  purpose.  It  was  truly  fearl'ul :  we 
were  deep  in  the  recesses  of  the  bay,  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  stupendous  icebergs  and  tangled  floe-pieces. 
My  sturdy  second  oHicer,  not  naturally  impresdble,and 
long  accustomed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  whaling  life, 
shed  tears  at  the  prospect.  There  was  but  one  thing 
to  be  (lone :  cost  what  it  might,  we  must  harness  our 
sledges  again  and  retrace  our  way  to  the  Avcstward. 

■ip  *  *  T*  •)?  ^p  * 

"  Things  grew  worse  and  Avorse  with  us :  the  old 
difficulty  of  breathing  came  back  again,  and  our  feet 
swelled  to  such  an  extent  that  we  were  obliged  to  cut 
open  our  canvas  boots. 

"  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  were  now  in  the 
open  bay,  in  the  full  line  of  the  great  ice-drift  to  the 
Atlantic,  and  in  boats  so  frail  and  unseaworthy  as  to 
require  constimt  bailing  to  keep  them  afloat. 

"  It  was  at  this  crisis  of  our  fortunes  that  we  saw  a 
large  seal  floating — as  is  the  custom  of  these  animals 
— ou  a  sn)all  patch  of  ice,  and  seemingly  asleep.  It 
was  an  ussuk,  and  so  large  that  I  at  first  mistook  it 
for  a  walrus.  Signal  was  made  for  the  IIo})e  to  follow 
astern,  and,  trembling  with  anxiety,  we  prepared  to 
crawl  down  upon  him. 

"  Petersen,  with  the  largo  English  rifle,  was  stationed 
in  the  ])0W,  and  stockiuLi's  were  (]r;i\vu  o\c'r  the  oars 
as  mufflers.  As  we  neared  the  aniuial,  our  excitement 
became  so  intense  that  the  men  could  hardly  keep 
stroke.  I  had  a  sot  of  signals  for  such  occasions^ 
which  spared  ua  the  noise  of  the  voice ;  and  when 


Nl 


I 


I'  '.i 


630 


THE  seal!  tue  seal! 


about  three  hundred  yards  off,  the  oars  were  taken  in, 
and  we  moved  on  in  deep  silence  with  a  single  scull 
astern. 

"  lie  was  not  asleep,  for  he  reared  his  head  when  we 
were  almost  within  ritie-shot ;  and  to  this  day  I  can 
remember  the  hard,  careworn,  almost  despairing  ex- 
pression of  the  men's  thin  faces  as  they  saw  him 
move  :  their  lives  depended  on  his  capture. 

"  I  depressed  my  hand  nervously,  ns  a  signal  for 
Petersen  to  fire.  McGajy  hung  upon  his  oar,  and  the 
boat  slowly  but  noiselessly  sagging  ahead,  seemed  to 
me  within  certain  range.  Looking  at  Petersen  I  saw 
that  the  poor  fellow  was  paralyzed  by  his  anxiety, 
trying  vainly  to  obtain  a  rest  for  his  gun  against  the 
cut-water  of  the  boat.  The  seal  rose  on  his  fore-flip- 
pers, gazed  at  us  for  a  moment  with  frightened  curi- 
osity, and  coiled  himself  for  a  plunge.  At  that  in. 
stant,  simultaneously  with  the  crack  of  our  rifle,  he 
relaxed  his  long  length  on  the  ice,  and,  at  the  very 
brink  of  the  water,  his  head  fell  helpless  to  one  side. 

"I  would  have  ordered  another  shot,  but  no  disci- 
pline could  have  controlled  the  men.  With  a  wild 
yell,  each  vociferating  according  to  his  own  impulse, 
they  urged  both  boats  upon  the  liocs.  A  crowd  of 
hands  seized  the  seal  and  bore  him  up  to  safer  ice. 
The  men  seemed  half  craz}^ :  I  had  not  realized  how 
much  we  were  reduced  by  absolute  famine.  They  ran 
over  the  floe,  crying  and  laughing  and  brandishing 
their  knives.  It  was  not  five  minutes  before  every 
man  was  sucking  his  bloody  fingers  or  mouthing  long 
strips  of  raw  blubber. 

"  This  was  our  last  experience  of  the  disagreeable 
effects  of  hunger.  In  the  words  of  George  Stephen- 
son, *  The  charm  was  broken,  and  the  dogs  were  safe.* 


TERRA     FIRMA 


631 


The  dogs  I  have  said  little  ahout,  for  none  of  us 
liked  to  think  of  them.  The  poor  creatures  Toodla 
and  Whitej  had  been  taken  with  us  as  last  resources 
against  starvation.  They  were,  as  McGary  worded  it, 
' meat  on  the  hoof,'  and  •  able  to  cany  their  own  fat 
over  the  floes.'  Once,  near  Weary  Man's  Ecst,  I  had 
been  on  the  point  of  killing  them  ;  but  they  had  been 
the  leaders  of  the  winter's  team,  and  we  could  not 
bear  the  sacrifice. 

"'Terra  finna !  Terra  firma !'  How  very  pleasant  it 
was  to  look  upon,  and  with  what  a  tingle  of  excited 
thankfulness  we  drew  near  it!  A  little  time  to  seek  a 
cove  among  the  wrinkled  hills,  a  little  time  to  ex- 
change congratulations,  and  then  our  battered  boats 
were  haided  high  arid  dry  upon  the  rocks,  and  our 
party,  with  hearts  full  of  our  deliverance,  lay  down 
to  rest. 

"  Thus  it  was  that  at  one  of  our  sleeping-halts  upon 
the  rocks — for  we  still  adhered  to  the  old  routine — 
Petersen  awoke  me  with  a  story.  He  liad  just  seen 
and  recognized  a  native,  who,  in  his  frail  h.iyiik,  was 
evidently  seeking  eider-down  among  the  islands.  The 
man  had  once  been  an  inmate  of  his  famih*.  '  Paul 
Zacharias,  don't  30U  know  me ?  I'm  Carl  Petersen !' 
'  No,'  said  the  man  ;  *•  his  wile  says  he's  dead ;'  and, 
with  a  stolid  expression  of  wonder,  he  stared  for  a 
moment  at  the  long  beard  that  loomed  at  him  through 
the  fog,  and  paddled  away  with  all  the  energy  of 
fright. 

"Two  days  after  this,  a  mist  had  settled  down  upon 
the  islands  which  embayed  us,  and  wlun  it  lilted  we 
found  ourselves  rowing,  in  lazy  time,  under  the  shadow 
of  Karkamoot.  Just  then  a  familiar  somid  came  to 
us  over  the  water.     We  had  often  listened  tc  the 


It 


: 


i 


!  '-I 


'■iF 


632 


DANNEMARKE  RS 


!  I 


pcreeoliing  of  the  gulls  or  the  bark  of  the  fox,  and 
mistaken  it  for  the  'Iluk'of  the  Esquimaux;  hut 
this  had  about  it  an  inflection  not  to  be  mistaken,  for 
it  died  away  in  the  familiar  cadence  of  a  'halloo.' 

"'Listen,  Petersen!  oars,  men!'  'What  is  it?' — 
and  he  listened  quietly  at  first,  and  then,  trembling, 
said,  in  a  half  whisper,  'Dannemarkers!' 

"  I  remember  this,  the  first  tone  of  Christian  voice 
which  had  greeted  our  return  to  the  world.  IIow  we 
all  stood  up  and  peered  into  the  distant  nooks;  .and 
how  the  cry  came  to  us  again,  just  as,  having  i^ccn 
nothing,  we  were  doubting  whether  the  whole  was 
not  a  dream ;  and  tlien  how,  with  long  sweeps,  the 
white  ash  cracking  under  the  spring  of  the  rowers, 
we  stood  for  the  cape  that  the  sound  proceeded  from, 
and  how  nervously  we  scanned  the  green  spots  which 
our  experience,  grown  now  into  instinct,  told  us  would 
be  the  likely  camping-ground  of  wayfarers. 

"  By-and-l)}^ — for  we  must  have  been  pulling  a  good 
half  hour — the  single  mast  of  a  small  shallop  showed 
itself;  and  Petersen,  who  had  been  very  quiet  and 
grave,  burst  out  into  an  incoherent  fit  of  crying,  only 
relieved  by  broken  exclamations  of  mingled  Danish 
and  English.  "Tis  the  Uiiernavik  oil-boat!  The 
Fraulein  Flaischer !  Carlie  Mo.ssyn,  the  assistant  cooper^ 
must  be  on  his  road  to  Kingatok  for  blubber.  The 
Mariano  (the  one  annual  ship)  has  come,  and  Carlie 
Mossyn '  and  here  he  did  it  all  over  again,  gulp- 
ing down  his  words  and  wringing  his  hands. 

"  It  was  Carlie  Mossyn,  sure  enough.  The  quiet 
routine  of  a  Danish  settlement  is  the  same  year  after 
year,  and  Petersen  had  hit  upon  the  exact  state  of 
things.  The  Marine  was  at  Proven,  and  Carlie  Mos- 
syn had  come  up  in  the  Fraulein  Flaischer  to  get  the 
year's  supply  of  blubber  from  Kingatok. 


•   ' 


! 


! 


■.  ■* 


iil 


I 


I 


CAPE    WVI.rOMK. 


iti-.r 


.^: 


Wil 

III 


Ol'R    KIH8T    KAYAK. 


AT    THE    SETTLEMENT. 


633 


"  Ilero  wo  first  ji^ot  our  cloudy  vai^uo  idea  of  what 
had  passed  in  tlic  big  world  during  our  al)sence.  The 
friction  of  its  fierce  rotation  had  not  much  disturbed 
this  little  outpost  of  civilization,  and  we  thought  it  a 
sort  of  l)lun(ler  as  he  told  us  that  France  and  England 
were  leagued  with  the  Mussulman  against  the  (Jreek 
Church.  lie  was  a  good  Lutheran,  this  assistant 
cooper,  and  all  news  with  him  had  a  theological  com- 
plexion. ■  '  .  • 

" '  What  of  America  ?  eh,  Petersen  ? ' — and  we  all 
looked,  waiting  ior  him  to  interpret  the  answer. 

"*  America  V  '  said  Carlie  ;  '  we  don't  know  much  of 
that  country  here,  for  they  have  no  whalers  on  the 
coast ;  but  a  steamer  and  a  barque  passed  up  a  fort- 
night ago,  and  have  gone  o.ut  into  the  ice  to  seek  your 
party. 

"  How  gently  all  the  lore  of  this  man  oozed  out  of 
him !  he  seemed  an  oracle,  as,  with  hot-tingling  fin- 
gers pressed  against  the  gunwale  of  the  boat,  we 
listened  to  his  words.  *Sebastopol  ain't  taken.' 
Wiiere  and  what  was  Sebastopol  ? 

"  But '  Sir  John  Franklin  ? '  There  we  were  at  home 
again, — our  own  delusive  little  specialty  rose  upper- 
most. Franklin's  party,  or  traces  of  the  dead  which 
represented  it,  had  been  found  nearly  a  thousand  miles 
to  the  south  of  where  we  had  been  searching  for  them. 
He  knew  it ;  for  the  priesl  (Pastor  Kraag)  had  a  Ger- 
man newspaper  which  told  all  about  it  And  so  we  'out 
oars '  again  and  rowed  into  the  fogs. 

"  Another  sleeping-halt  has  passed,  nnd  we  have  all 
washed  clean  at  the  fresh-water  basins  and  furbished 
up  our  ragged  furs  and  woolens.  Kasarsoak,  the  snow 
top  of  Sanderson's  Hope,  shows  itself  above  the  mists 
and  we  heai;the  yelling  of  the  dogs.    Petersen  had 


Ml 


Hi 


634 


THE    WELCOME. 


been  foreman  of  the  settlement,  and  he  calls  my  at- 
tention, with  a  sort  of  pride,  to  the  tolling  of  the 
workmen's  bell.  It  is  six  o'clock.  We  are  Hearing 
the  end  of  our  trials.     Can  it  be  a  dream  ? 

"  We  hugged  the  land  by  the  big  harbor,  turned  the 
corner  by  the  old  brew-house,  and,  in  the  midst  of  a 
crowd  of  children,  hauled  our  bouts  lor  the  last  time 
upon  the  rocks. 

"For  ei;,dity-four  days  we  had  lived  in  the  open  air. 
Our  habits  were  hard  and  weather-worn.  We  could 
not  remain  within  the  four  walls  of  a  house  without 
a  distressing  sense  of  fuffocation.  JJiit  we  drank 
coffee  that  night  before  many  a  hospitable  threshold^ 
and  listened  again  and  again  to  the  iiyiiui  of  wel- 
come, which,  sung  by  many  voices,  greeted  our  deliv- 
erance." 

"  On  the  16th  we  left  Upeniavik  in  the  Mariane, 
a  stanch  but  antiquated  little  barque,  imder  the  com- 
mand of  Ciiptain  Ammondson,  who  promised  to  drop 
us  at  tbi>  r'i'etland  Islands.  Our  little  boat,  the  Faith, 
which  was  regarded  by  all  of  us  as  a  precious  relic, 
took  passage  along  with  us.  Kxcept  the  furs  on  our 
backs  and  the  documents  that  recorded  our  laliors  and 
our  trials,  it  was  all  we  brought  back  of  the  Advance 
aud  her  fortunes." 


THE  FAITH. 


T 


n 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
THE  IIARTSTENE  RELIEF  EXPEDITION. 

An  expedition  for  tlie  relief  of  Dr.  Kane  und  his 
party,  comnmnded  by  Lieut.  ILniry  J.  Hartstene,  sailed 
from  New  York,  May  31st,  1855,  precisely  two  years 
after  the  departure  of  the  Advance  from  the  same 
port.  It  was  sent  out  by  authf  rity  of  Congress,  and 
consisted  of  two  vessels,  the  bark  Release  and  propeller 
Arctic,  M'hich  penetrated  northward  as  far  as  Etah, 
where  the  seai'chers  met  some  of  Dr.  Kane's  Esquimaux 
fnends,  including  the  "elfin  youtli "  and  "  stern  waims 
hunter  "  Myouk. 

Dr.  John  K.  Kane,  a  younger  brother  of  the  exjilorer, 
accompanied  the  expedition,  and  prepared  a  graphic 
and  spirited  sketch  thereof,  which  was  published  in 
Putnum^s  Magazine  for  May,  I80G,  from  which  the 
following  extracts  are  taken  : — 

"  Myouk  was  very  quick  in  understanding  us,  and 
equally  ready  in  inventing  modes  of  conveying  intelli- 
gence. Lea<l-pencil  and  paper  were  called  inio  requisi- 
tion. I  took  out  my  note-book,  drew  a  rough  sketch 
of  a  brig,  and  shoAVcd  it  to  Lim.  1T(>  at  once  said 
'Dokto  Kayen,'  and  pointed  to  tlie  north.  1  then  drew 
a  reversed  sketch,  and  pointed  south.  But  Myouk, 
shaking  his  head,  began  to  sway  his?  body  backward 
and  forward,  to  imitate  rowing;  then  said  Dokto 
36  635 


;!* 


1 1 


iij 


■«: 


686 


NARRATIVE   OF  JOHN  K.   KANE. 


Kayen  again,  and  pointed  south.  On  tliis,  I  drew 
a  whole  fleet  of  boats,  and  invited  him  to  point  out 
how  many  of  these  he  refen'ed  to.  He  took  the  pencil 
from  my  hand,  and  altered  the  sterns  of  two  into  sharp- 
pointed  ones,  and  then  held  up  two  fingers,  to  indicate 
that  there  were  two  of  such.  I  now  drew  carefully  two 
whale-boats  ;  he  made  signs  of  approval,  as  much  as  to 
say  that  was  the  thing ;  and,  incontinently  squatting 
down,  imitated  the  voice  and  gestures  of  a  dog-driver, 
cracking  an  imaginary  whip,  and  crying  hup-hup-hup, 
at  the  top  of  his  voice.  After  which  perfomi.ance  he 
laughed  immoderately,  and,  again  pointing  south,  said 
Dokto  Kaven. 

"  I  was  not  certain  as  to  his  meaning ;  but,  on  my 
drawing  a  picture  of  a  dog-team,  he  went  through  the 
whole  performance  afresh,  and  showed  the  most  extrav- 
agant signs  of  delight  at  being  inderstood.  We  found 
out  how  many  dog-sledges  and  how  many  men  there 
were  of  the  doctor's  party,  in  the  same  manner.  We 
examined  several  other  natives  separately,  and  they  all 
told  the  same  story ;  nor  could  Ave  confuse  them  as  to 
the  number  of  men  and  boats  ;  they  were  all  clear  on 
that  head.  Nineteen,  they  made  it,  neither  more  nor 
less.  We  tried  our  best  to  make  them  say  that  the 
boats  had  gone  north,  and  the  vessel  south  ;  but  with- 
out success.  Myouk,  on  one  occasion,  being  hard 
pressed,  stoj)ped  his  ears,  so  as,  at  least,  to  secure  him- 
self from  being  supposed  to  assent  to  what  he  had  not 
learning  or  language  enough  to  controvert. 

"  At  length,  a  bright  thought  struck  him.  lie  ran 
down  to  the  beach,  and  got  two  white  stones ;  laid 
them  on  the  ground,  and,  pointing  to  the  floatin^j 
masses  of  ice  in  the  bay,  signified  to  usthatthise  rep* 
■"esented  the  ice.    Next,  he  took  a  common  clay  pipe 


TTAREATTVE   OF  JOHN   K.   KANE. 


637 


of  Mr.  Lovell's,  and,  pointing  to  the  north,  saitl,  vomiak 
sooak,  or  big  ship,  'vomiak  sooak,  Dokto  Kayen.'  He 
next  pushed  the  pipe  up  between  the  pebbles,  and  then 
pressed  them  together  till  the  pipe  was  crushed.  Lastly, 
he  pointed  to  the  south,  and  began  imitating  the  rowing 
of  a  boat,  the  cracking  of  whips,  and  the  hup-hupping 
of  a  dog-driver, vociferating,  at  intervals,  *Dokto  Kayen, 
he  !  he  !  he  !'  We  tried  our  best  to  find  out  how  long 
it  had  been  since  the  Dokto  Kayens  had  left  them, 
for  it  was  evident  that  this  was  their  name  for  the 
whole.paiiy  ;  but  we  could  not  make  them  understand. 
They  Avould  only  tell  us  that  their  guests  had  been 
with  them  for  some  time.  This  they  did  by  pointing 
to  the  south,  and  then  following  the  track  of  the  sun 
till  it  reached  the  north ;  then  after  stretching  them- 
selves out  on  the  .ground  and  closing  their  eyes  as  if 
in  sleep,  they  would  again  point  to  the  south,  rise  up, 
go  down  to  the  lake  and  pretend  to  wash  their  faces. 
"  ""vVe  had  di'if ted  so  far  to  the  south  that  Lievely  was 
nearer  than  Upernavik,  and  Captain  Hartstene  deter- 
mined to  pi  it  in  there.  It  cleared  aAvay  beaiitifnlly 
towards  morning,  and  we  were  all  on  the  decks,  ad- 
miring tlie  clear  water  and  the  fantastic  shapes  of  the 
water- washed  icebergs.  All  hands  were  in  high  spirits, 
the  gale  had  blown  in  the  right  direction,  and  in  a 
few  hours  we  should  be  in  Lievel}',  The  rocks  of 
itsland-locked  harbor  were  already  in  sight.  We  Avere 
discussing  our  news  by  anticipatic^n  when  the  man  in 
the  crow's  nest  cried  out,  "A  brig  in  the  harbor !"  and 
the  next  minute,  before 'AC  had  time  to  ('(inpratuLite 
each  other  on  tlie  chance  of  sending  lel:tei*s  home,  tliat 
she  had  hoisted  American  colors — a  delicate  comj)li- 
ment,  -we  thought,  ou  the  part  of  our  friends,   the 


:  ill  m 


m^ 


Dan 


es. 


638 


NARRATIVE   OF  JOHN   K.   KANE. 


8 


I 


"  I  believe  our  captain  was  about  to  rettn'n  it,  a\  hen, 
to  our  surprise,  she  hoisted  another  flag,  the  veritable 
one  which  had  gone  out  with  the  Advance,  beaiing 
the  name  of  Mr.  Heniy  Grir  nell.  Atthesani'  mov-'nt, 
two  boats  were  seen  rounding  the  point,  and  [.ui!h:*j 
towards  us.  Did  they  contain  our  lost  frienci.s  Yef,; 
the  sailors  had  settled  that.  *  Those  are  Yankees,  sir ; 
no  Danes  ever  feathered  their  oars  that  way,'  said  an 
old  Avhaler  to  nie. 

"  For  those  who  had  friends  among  the  missing 
paiiy,  the  fe^v  minutes  that  followed  Avere  of  .bitter 
anxiety  ;  for  the  men  in  the  boats  were  long-bearded 
and  Aveather-beaten ;  they  had  strange,  wild  costumes ; 
there  was  no  possibility  of  recognition.  Dr.  Kane, 
standing  ujiright  in  the  stern  of  the  first  boat,  with  his 
spy-glass  slung  round  his  neck,  was  the  first  identified ; 
then  the  big  form  of  Mr.  Brooks  ;  in  another  moment 
all  hands  of  them  were  on  board  of  us. 

"  It  was  curious  to  watch  the  effects  of  the  excite- 
ment in  different  people, — the  intense  quietude  of  s^^rae 
the  boisterous  delight  of  others  ;  how  one  man  would 
l)ecome  intensely  loquacious,  another  would  do  nothing 
but  laugh,  and  a  third  would  creep  away  to  some  out- 
of-the-way  corner,  as  if  he  were  afraid  of  sliowing  how 
he  felt.  IIow  hungry  they  all  were  for  news,  and 
liow  eagerly  they  tore  open  the  home  letters :  mos*  •.  ' 
them,  poor  fellows,  had  pleasant  tidings,  and  all  wera 
pi'(^pared  to  make  the  best  of  bad  ones.  We  Avere  II. 
the  harbor,  Avith  a  fleet  of  kayaks  dancing  in  welcome 
around  and  behind  us,  bef'ie  r'ae  greetings  were  half 
ended,  for  they  repeated  cheniPGiv  .y  over  and  over 


agam. 


"Our  old  friend,  Mr.  Olrik,  was  Avith  the   new 
comers,  and  as^happy  as  the  rest.     His  hospitality, 


NAEBATIVE   OP  JOHN   K.    KANE. 


639 


I. 

If 


when  we  reached  the  shore,  was  absolutely  boundless ; 
and  his  house  and  table  were  always  at  our  service. 
Altogether,  I  never  passed  three  more  delightful  days 
than  those  last  days  at  Lievely.  Balls  eveiy  night ; 
feasts  and  junlietings  every  day  ;  and,  pleasantest  of 
all,  those  dear  home-like  tea-tables,  with  shining  tea- 
urn  and  clear,  white  sugar,  round  which  we  sat,  wait- 
ing for  the  water  to  boil,  and  talking  of  Russia  and 
the  Czar,  and  the  world  outside  the  Circle ;  while 
Mrs,  Olrik  would  look  up  from  her  worsted- work,  and 
the  children  pressed  round  me  to  see  the  horses  and 
dogs  I  was  drawing  for  them.  It  was  enough  to  make 
one  forget  his  red  flannel  shirt  and  rough  Arctic  rig ; 
Melville  Bay  and  the  pack  seemed  fables. 

"  But  our  stay  in  Lievely  ended.  The  propeller  got 
up  steam,  and,  taking  our  bark  and  the  Danish  brig 
Marianne  in  tow,  steamed  out  of  the  harbor.  All  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  were  on  the  shore  to  see  the 
last  of  us.  Our  visit  had  been  as  memorable  an  in- 
cident to  them  as  to  ourselves.  AVhere  ten  dollars  is 
a  large  marriage  dower.  Jack's  liberality  of  expendi- 
tui'e  seemed  absolutely  royal.  There  were  moistened 
eyes  among  them,  for  they  are  essentially  kind-hearted ; 
and  even  the  roar  of  our  cannon,  in  answer  to  the 
Danish  salute,  though  it  resounded  splentlidly  among 
the  hills,  was  scarcely  heeded,  as  they  stood,  with 
folded  arms,  watching  us  disappear  in  the  distance." 


\ 


'•m 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
FRANKLIN'S  FATE  DISCOVERED. 


78° 


TT" 


70" 


75" 


74° 


73« 


7J» 


The  fall  of  1854  witnessed  the  return  of  the  last  of 
all  the  expeditions  which  had  been  sent  from  England 
to  search  for  Franklin.  The  task  had  been  a  long  and 
disheartening  one ;  for  with  the  exception  of  the  dis- 
covery in  1850,  of  Franklin's  winter-quarters  in  1845- 
46  under  Beechey  Island,  no  clue  to  the  whereabouts 
of  his  ships  or  party  had  been  found.  Six  years  of 
search  had,  however,  made  known  the  entire  geog- 
raphy of  the  regions  of  Arctic  America,  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  small  portion  around  King  William's 
Land,  every  coast  and  harbor  had  been  examined. 
The  unsearched  ground  would  have  been  more  easily 
accessible  to  the  various  expeditions  than  many  of 
the  more  remote  regions  visited  by  them  ;  but  by  a 
strange  fatality,  all  the  explorers  turned  back  short  of 
the  goal,  because  they  found  no  cairn,  no  trace,  no 
record  to  induce  them  to  push  on  towards  it. 

But  hardly  had  men  declared  the  solution  of  the 
fate  of  the  lost  expedition  a  hopeless  task,  when,  in 
October  1854,  from  tlio  shores  of  Pi-ince  Roijrf'nt's 
Inlet,  appeared  a  tiiiveler.  Dr.  llae,  bringing  conclu- 
sive proofs  that  tlie  unsearched  region  was  the  scene 
of  the  disasters  which  overwhelmed  Franklin  and  his 

men.     Dr.  Rae,  in  his  land  expedition  of  1853-4,  met 

641 


643 


DB.   RAE  S   DISCO'SrEEIES. 


at  Pelly  Bay,  on  the  17th  of  May  1854,  a  party  of 
Esquimaux  who  had  in  their  possession  articles  which 
he  identified  as  having  belonged  to  Franklin's  party. 
The  following  is  Dr.  Ilae's  account  of  the  informa- 
tion which  he  obtained  from  these  Esquimaux  : — 

"In  the  spring,  four  seasons  back,  1850,  about  forty 
*  white  men,'  were  seen  traveling  southward  over  the  ice 
and  dragging  a  boat  with  them,  by  some  Esquimaux,  who 
were  killing  seals  near  the  north  shore  of  King  William's 
Land,  which  is  a  large  island.  None  of  the  party  could 
speak  the  Esquimaux  language  intelligibly,  but  by  signs  the 
natives  were  made  to  understand  that  their  ship,  or  ships, 
had  been  crushed  by  the  ice,  and  that  they  were  now  going 
to  where  they  expected  to  find  deer  to  shoot.  From  the 
appearance  of  the  men,  all  of  whom  except  one  officer  looked 
thin,  they  were  then  supposed  to  be  getting  short  of  provis- 
ions, and  purchased  a  small  seal  from  the  natives.  At  a  later 
date  the  same  season,  but  previous  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
ice,  the  bodies  of  some  thirty  persons  were  discovered  on  the 
continent,  and  five  on  an  island  near  it,  about  a  long  day's 
"journey  to  the  N.  W.  of  a  large  stream,  which  can  be  no 
other  than  Back's  Great  Fish  River,  as  its  description  and 
that  of  the  low  shore  in  the  neighborhood  of  Point  Ogle  and 
Montreal  Island,  agree  exactly  with  that  of  Sir  George  I>ack. 
Some  of  the  bodies  had  been  buried,  (probably  those  of  the 
first  victims  of  famine,)  some  were  in  a  tent  or  tents,  others 
under  the  boat,  which  had  been  turned  over  to  form  a  shelter, 
and  several  lay  scattered  about  in  different  directions.  Of 
those  found  on  the  island,  one  was  supposed  to  have  been  an 
officer,  as  he  had  a  telesco])e  strapped  over  his  shoulders,  and 
his  double-barrelled  gun  lay  underneath  him. 

"  From  the  mutilated  state  of  many  of  the  coqjses,  and 
the  contents  of  the  kettles,  it  is  evident  that  our  wretched 
countrymen  had  been  driven  to  the  last  resource — cannibal- 
ism— as  a  means  of  prolonging  existence. 

"  There  appeared  to  have  been  an  abiiiidmt  stock  of  ammu- 
nition, as  the  powder  was  emptied  in  a  heap  on  the  ground 
by  the  natives  out  of  the  kegs  or  cases  containing  it ;  and  a 


ANDERSON  S    EXPEDITION. 


643 


nii- 
und 
d  a 


quantity  of  ball  and  shot  was  found  below  higli-water  mark, 
having  probably  been  left  on  the  ice  close  to  the  beach. 
There  must  have  been  a  number  of  watches,  compasses,  tele- 
scopes, guns,  (several  double-barrelled,)  &c.,  all  of  which 
appear  to  have  been  broken  up,  as  I  saw  pieces  of  those  dif- 
ferent articles  with  the  Esquimaux,  together  with  some  sil- 
ver spoons  and  forks.  I  purchased  as  many  as  I  could  get. 
A  list  of  the  most  important  of  these  I  enclose,  with  a  rough 
sketch  of  the  crests  and  initials  on  the  forks  and  spoons. 

"None  of  the  Esquimaux  with  whom  I  conversed  had  seen 
the  '  whites,'  nor  had  they  ever  been  at  the  place  where,  the 
bodies  were  found,  but  had  their  information  from  those  who 
had  been  there,  and  who  had  seen  the  party  when  traveling." 

The  next  season,  1855,  Mr.  Anderson,  an  officer  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  descended  the  Fish  River  • 
but,  altliough  traces  were  found  to  prove  tliat  some 
portions  of  the  crews  of  the  Erebus  and  Terror  had 
actually  landed  on  the  banks  of  that  river,  and  traces 
of  them  existed  up  as  far  as  Franklin's  Rapids,  no 
additional  information  was  obtained  by  the  party. 

In  1856,  Lady  Franklin  petitioned  the  Government 
to  make  a  final  effort  to  find  the  lost  ships,  and  sug- 
gested that  the  Resolute,  which  had  recently  been  pre- 
sented by  the  United  States,  might  be  devoted  to  the 
purpose.  A  memorial  to  the  same  effect,  signed  by 
the  leading  scientific  men,  explorers  and  naval  officers 
of  England,  accompanied  the  petition.  It  was  not 
until  April  1857  that  the  decisive  answer  was  given, 
that  after  so  many  failures,  the  Government  did  not 
feel  justified  in  sending  out  more  brave  men  to  encoun- 
ter fresh  dangers  in  a  cause  Avhicli  was  viewed  as  hope- 
less. 

Lady  Franklin  now  determined  to  send  out  another 
private  expedition,  and  for  that  purpose  purchased 
and  refitted  the  steam  yacht  Fox.   Capt.  F.  S.  McClin- 


i 


t 

I 


f': 


644 


THE   FOX   EXPEDinOBr. 


tock,  wlio  had  seen  mucli  service  in  the  frozen  reahn, 
willingly  accepted,  without  pay,  the  command.  He  had 
experienced  officers  and  a  crew  of  twenty-one  gallant 
men.  Carl  Petersen,  a  Dane  who  had  served  with  Pen- 
ny and  Kane,  hastened  from  his  home  at  Copenha- 
gen, where  he  had  been  only  six  days  after  an  absence  of 
a  year,  to  join  the  expedition  as  interpreter.  Various 
circumstances  combined  to  retard  the  departure  of 
the  Fox,  and  it  was  not  till  July  1857  that  she  left 
the  shores  of  merry  England  behind  her  and  started 
on  her  long  and  perilous  voyage. 

Melville  Bay  was  reached  about  the  middle  of  Au- 
gust. Here  the  Fox  was  beset  by  the  ice  and  frozen 
in,  and  was  not  released  until  the  next  April.  Mean- 
time  she  had  drifted  in  the  midst  of  a  slow-marching 
pack  which  ever  rolls  from  the  Pole  to  the  Equator, 
a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  miles  to  the  south.  Stai-t- 
ing  northward  again  on  the  7th  of  May,  from  Hoi- 
Steinberg,  Greenland,  the  Fox  reached  Beechey  Island 
by  the  middle  of  August.  Here  McClintock  set  up  a 
marble  tablet  to  the  memoiy  of  the  lost  explorers. 
This  monument  had  been  constructed  in  New  York 
City  at  the  request  of  Lady  Franklin,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Grinnell,  and  was  taken  to  Greenland  by 
the  Hartstein  Expedition,  for  the  purpose  of  being 
erected  at  Beechey  Island.  But  as  Lieut.  Haiistein 
did  not  visit  that  locality  the  tablet  was  left  at  God- 
havn,  and  there  found  by  McClintock,  who  carried  it 
to  its  destination.  It  was  placed  upon  the  raised 
flagged  square,  in  the  centre  of  which  stands  the  cen- 
otaph recording  the  names  of  those  who  perished  in 
Belcher's  Expedition,  and  near  a  small  tablet  which 
had  been  erected  to  the  meriory  of  Bellot.  The 
inscription  was  as  follows : — 


stor 
pus 
side 
fixe( 
Wa 
diat 


FRANKLIN  8   MONUMENT. 


645 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OP 

PRANKLIN, 
CROZIER,  FITZJAMES, 

AND   ALL  THEIR 

GALLANT  BROTHER    OFFICERS  AND  FAITHFUL 

C0UPANIUN8  WHO  HAVE  SUFFERED  AND  PERIBIIKD 

IN  THE  CAUSE  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

THE  SERVICE  OF  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

THIS  TABLET 

IS  ERECTED  NEAR  THE  SPOT  WHERE 

THET  PASSED  THEIR  FIRST  ARCTIC 

■WINTER,  AND  WHENCE  TIIET    ISSUED 

FORTH  TO  CONQUER  DIFFICULTIES  OR 

TO    DIE. 

IT  COMMEMORATES  THE  GRIEF  OF  THEIR 

ADMIRING  COUNTRYMEN  AND  FRIENDS, 

AND  THE  ANGUISH,  SUBDUED  BY  FAITH, 

OF  HER  WHO  HAS  LOST,  IN  THE  HEROIO 

LEADER  OF  THE  EXPEDITION,  THE  MOST. 

DEVOTED  AND  AFFECTIONATE  OF 

HUSBANDS. 

"  AND  SO  HE  BRINOETH  THEM  UNTO  THE 
HAVEN  WHERE  THEY  WOULD  BE." 
1865. 


This  atone  has  been  entrusted  to  be  affixed  in  its  place  by  the  Offiecrs  and 
Crew  of  the  American  Expedition,  commanded  by  Lieut.  U.  J.  Uurtstcin,  in 
search  of  Dr.  Kiinc  and  liis  companions. 

This  Tablet  having  been  left  at  Disco  by  the 
Amcricaw  Expedition,  which  was  unable  to 
reach  Beeehey  Island,  in  185S,  was  put  on 
board  the  Discovery  Yacht  Fox,  and  is  now 
,    ,^  setup  here  by  Captain  McClintock,  R.  N., 

commanding  the  final  expedition  of  search 
'  for  ascertaining  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin  '    . 

and  his  companions,  1868. 


After  replenishing  his  stock  of  provisions  from  the 
stores  left  by  the  previous  expedition,  McClintock 
pushed  on,  and  turning  into  Peel  Sound  on  the  west 
side  of  Somerset,  was  brought  up,  August  17th,  by 
fixed  ice  at  a  point  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Cape 
Walker.  Bafiled,  but  not  disheartened,  he  imme- 
diately retraced  his  steps,  and  passing  down  Prince 


i' 


646 


WINTER   m   BELLOT   STRAIT. 


I 


Regent's  Inlet,  arrived  on  the  20tli  at  the  eastern 
entrance  of  Ballot  Strait. 

The  scene  in  that  strait  was  enough  to  daunt  men 
less  accustomed  to  such  dangers.  On  either  side  were 
pi'ecipitous  walls  of  granite,  topped  by  mountains 
covered  with  snow,  while  to  a  ad  fro,  in  the  space 
between  them,  the  ice  was  grinding  and  churning 
under  the  influence  of  a  fierce  tide.  Liko  a  terrier  at 
a  rat-hole,  the  staunch  Fox  waited  for  an  opportunity 
to  run  the  gauntlet  through  this  strait  into  the  Avestern 
sea  which  led  to  King  William's  Land.  On  the  6th 
of  September  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  western 
entrance  to  the  strait,  but  were  then  stopped  by  a 
belt  of  ice  wluch  stretched  across  the  path  and  was 
held  fast  by  a  group  of  small  islands. 

The  winter  of  1858-9  now  set  in,  and  all  hope  of 
reaching  the  open*  water  had  to  be  abandoned,  although 
it  Avas  sej)arated  from  the  Fox  only  by  an  ice-field  six 
miles  wide.  Here  Avas  passed  an  unusually  cold  and 
stormy  Avinter ;  and  the  resources  of  Boothia  yielded 
them  in  fresli  food  only  eight  reindeer,  tAvo  bears,  and 
eigliteen  seals.  In  February,-  several  sledge  parties 
were  sent  out  in  diiferent  directions;  McClintock, 
who  Avent  southerly,  met  forty-five  Esquimaux,  and 
during  a  sojourn  of  four  days  among  them  learned 
that  "  several  years  ago  a  sliip  Avas  crushed  by  the 
ice  off  the  north  sliore  of  King  William's  Land ;  that 
her  people  landed  and  Avent  aAvay  to  the  Great  Fish 
Eiver,  Avhere  they  died."  These  natives  had  a  quan- 
tity of  Avood  from  a  boat  left  by  the  "starving  Avhite 
men  "  on  the  Great  liiA^er. 

On  the  2d  of  April,  Captain  McClintock,  Cajitain 
Young,  and  Lieutenant  Hobson,  each  Avith  tAvo  sledges, 
started  from  the  Fox  to  search  for  the  lost  ships. 


re 


dii 


TIDINGS   OF  THE  EXPEDITION. 


647 


Young  went  westerly  to  Prince  of  Wales  Land  and 
made  a  long  journey.  McClintock  and  Hobson  went 
together  as  far  as  the  Magnetic  Pole,  and  on  the  way 
there,  learned  from  some  natives  that  the  second  ves- 
sel had  been  drifted  on  shore  by  the  ice  in  the  fall  of 
the  same  year  when  the  other  ship  was  crushed. 

Leaving  Hobson  to  search  the  west  coast  of  King 
William's  Land,  McClintock  with  Petersen  undei-took 
to  go  down  the  east  side  thereof,  direct  to  the  Fish 
River.  On  his  way  thither,  he  met  a  party  of  Esqui- 
maux who  had  been,  in  1857,  at  the  wreck  spoken  of 
by  their  countrymen,  and  who  had  numerous  articles 
taken  therefrom.  An  intelligent  old  woman  said  it 
was  in  tluj  fall  of  the  year  that  the  ship  was  forced 
on  shore ;  that  the  starving  white  men  had  fallen  on 
their  way  to  the  Great  River,  and  that  their  bodies 
were  found  by  her  countrymen  in  the  following 
winter.  She  said  that  on  board  the  wrecked  ship 
there  was  one  dead  white  man,  and  there  had  been 
many  books  as  well  as  other  things ;  but  all  liad  been 
taken  away,  or  destroyed,  when  she  was  '  ;-t  it  the 
wreck.  The  destruction  of  one  ship  and  the  wreck 
of  the  other  appeared,  so  far  as  McClintock  could 
ascertain,  to  have  occurred  after  their  abandonment. 
No  Esquimaux  that  were  met  had  ever  before  seen 
a  living  ^^'hite  man. 

After  meeting  this  party,  McClintock  pushed  on  to 
Montreal  Island,  in  the  estuary  of  the  Great  Fish 
River ;  but  he  found  nothinaf  more  than  Anders^on  had 
reported;  and  in  a  careful  scarcli  of  tlie  .'^lioi'cs  aljout 
Point  Ogle,  and  Barrow  Island,  he  was  equally  unsuc- 
cessful. Returninc:  to  Kincj  William's  Land  he  now 
struck  along  its  south-western  shores,  in  the  hope  of 
discovering  the  wreck  spoken  of  by  the  natives ;  but 


! 


I  f 


048 


MoOLINTOOK'S   DISCOVERIES. 


K 


ill        -i 

':W     •"' 


SI 


could  see  no  signs  thereof.  When  ten  miles  south  of 
Cape  Ilerschel,  he  came  upon  a  human  skeleton 
around  which  were  fragments  of  European  clothing. 
It  lay  exactly  as  the  famished  seamen  were  said  to 
have  fallen,  with  its  head  toward  Fish  River  and  its 
face  to  the  ground.  At  Cape  Ilerschel,  McClintock 
visited  the  cairn  which  Simpson  had  erected  in  1830, 
and  hoped  to  find  therein  some  record ;  h^  he  cairn 
had   evidently  been   overhauled   and  pi  -ed  by 

Esquimaux,  and  the  record,  if  there  had  been  any, 
carried  off. 

In  the  meantime  Hobson  had  made  more  Import- 
ant discoveries.  After  separating  from  McClintock 
near  the  Magnetic  Pole  on  the  28th  of  April,  he 
proceeded  to  Cape  Felix,  the  most  northern  point  of 
King  William's  Land.  Here  was  found  a  large  cairn 
and  three  tents,  with  clothes,  blankets  and  other 
articles,  but  no  records.  Two  smaller  cairns  were 
found  along  the  coast,  but  they  contained  nothing  of 
much  importance. 

On  the  Gth  of  May  Hobson  reached  Point  Victory 
— so  named  by  Sir  James  Ross  who  visited  it  in  1830. 
It  is  on  the  western  coast  of  King  William's  Land, 
some  forty  miles  south  of  Cape  Felix.  Here  was  a 
large  cairn  ;  and  among  some  loose  stones  Avhich  had' 
fallen  from  its  top  was  found  a  tin  case  enclosing  a 
record  which  gave  the  first  authentic  information  as 
to  tiie  fate  of  thf)  lost  expedition.  This  important 
document  was  one  of  those  blanks  f  urnit^hed  to  explor- 
ing ships  by  the  British  Admii-alty  for  tlie  2)urpose 
of  beins:  thrown  overboard  at  sea  in  order  to  ascertain 
the  set  of  the  current,  etc.,  on  which  is  printed  in  six 
languages  a  re(j^uest  that  the  finder  will  note  time  and 
place  where  it  was  found,  and  forward   it  to   the 


11 


DISCOVERT   OF   FBANKLIN'S   CAIRN. 


I    l 


I    " 


TUB  OAIRN   AT   POINT   VICTORY. 


649 


nearest  British  consul.  Written  on  tliis  paper  were 
two  distinct  records  made  at  different ,  dates.  The 
first  one,  occupying  the  blank  space  left  for  such  a 
purpose,  was  as  follows  : — 

38tL  of  May,  ( II.  M.  Ships  Erebus  and  Terror  wintered  in 
1847.         ( the  ice  in  Lat.  70^  5'  N.    Long.  9S«  23 '  W. 

Having  wintered  in  1846-7  at  Beechey  Island,  in  Lat.  74*1 
43'  28"  N.,  Long.  91"  39'  15"  W.,  after  having  ascended 
Wellington  Chainiel  to  Lat.  77®  and  returned  by  the  west 
side  of  Cornwallis  Island. 

Sir  John  Franklin  commanding  the  expecHtion.     All  well. 

Party  consisting  of  2  officers  and  6  men  left  ihc  ?hip8  on 
Monday,  24th  of  May,  1847. 


^9^/^  U^. 


This  record  had  been  ^^^•itten  by  Lieut.  Gore,  sign- 
ed by  hiiiiSelf  and  Vreux,  and  left  by  them  A-rhile  on 
an  excursion,  at  a  point  four  i.  files  north  of  Avliere  it 
was  found.  There  is  an  >>-i'or  in  it  Avhen  it  states 
that  the  winter  passed  at  Beechey  Island  was  tliat  of 
1846-7.  It  should  be  1845-6,  as  the  other  dates 
I  lainly  show. 

Before  a  year  had  passed,  Graham  Gore  was  dead, 
and  around  the  margin  of  the  paper  on  which  Avere 
his  words  of  hope  and  promise,  other  hands  had 
written  the  following  : — 

April  25,  184S,  II.  ^\.  ships  Terror  and  KrL'I)ii.s  were  de- 
serted on  the  22d  April,  5  leagues  N.  K.  W.  of  this,  hav- 
ing been  beset  since  12th  of  September,  184G.  The  offi- 
cers and  crews,  consisting  of  105  souls,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  F.   E.  M.  Crozier,  landed  hero  in  Lat. 


li 


i  I 

I        i 


650 


CEOZIERS   KECOED. 


69®  37/  42^',  Long.  98*=*  41'.  This  paper  was  found  by 
Lieut.  Irving,  under  the  cairn  supposed  to  have  been  built  by- 
Sir  James  Ross  in  1831,  four  miles  to  the  northward,  where 
it  had  been  deposited  by  the  late  commander  Gore,  in  June, 
1847.  Sir  James  lloss'  pillar  has  not,  however,  been  found, 
and  the  paper  has  been  transferred  to  this  position,  which  is 
that  in  which  Sir  J.  Ross'  pillar  was  erected.  Sir  John 
Franklin  died  on  the  11th  June,  1847,  and  the  total  loss 
by  deaths  in  the  expedition  has  been  to  this  date,  9  officers 
and  15  men. 


i; 


Scattered  around  this  cairn  were  large  quantities 
of  clothing  and  articles  of  all  kinds,  as  if  these  men, 
aware  that  they  were  retreating  for  their  lives,  had 
there  abandoned  everything  which  they  considered 
superfluous. 

Continuing  his  search  down  the  western  coast, 
Lieut.  Ilohson,  when  in  lat.  C)!)"^  0',  al)out  forty  niilea 
below  Point  Victory,  noticed  Avhat  aj)peared  to  be 
two  jiosts  rising  above  the  snovr.  On  examining 
them  closely,  he  found  that  tlu^y  were  the  awning 
stanchions  of  a  buried  boat,  and  on  clearing  away  the 
snow,  found  in  it  that  which  fdled  the  beholders  with 
awe — portions  of  two  human  skeletons.  One  lay  in 
the  bow  of  the  boat,  and  had  evidently  been  disturbed 
by  wob/es  or  other  animals ;  the  other  was  enveloped 


A   BUBIED   BOAT. 


651 


be 


wvj, 


with  clothes  and  furs,  and  lay  near  the  stern.  Close 
beside  it  were  found  five  watches;  and  two  double- 
barreled  guns — one  barrel  of  each  loaded  and  cocked 
— standing  muzzle  upwjivds  against  the  boat's  side, 
just  as  they  Avere  placed  eleven  years  previously. 

A  Bible  was  also  found,  and  a  few  religious  books, 
one  of  which — "  Christian  Melodies  " — bore  on  its 
title  page  an  inscription  from  the  donor  to  G.  G., 
(Graham  Gore.).  There  was  also  a  large  quantity 
of  clothing,  an  abundance  of  ammunition,  some  tea, 
chocolate  and  tobacco,  and  a  great  variety  of  articles 
which  modern  sledge-travelers  in  these  regions  would 
consider  a  useless  dead  v  'ht.  Silver  spoons  and 
forks  were  also  found,  eighl  «■  wliich  bore  Franklin's 
crest,  and  others  the  initials  of  nine  "f  his  otticers. 
Fuel  was  at  hand  in  the  shape  of  a  dr'ft-tive  lyii  i^ 
near  by  on  the  beach.  Nothing  in  the  shape  of 
records  or  journals  could  be  discovered. 

The  boat  was  twenty-eight  feet  long,  seven  and  a 
half  feet  wide,  and  was  mounted  on  a  heav^  oak 
sledge  which  was  headed  north.  McClintock,  A\ho 
came  upon  this  boat  a  few  days  after  Hobson  found 
it,  estimated  the  total  weight  of  the  sletlge  auii  -s 
load  at  1,400  lbs;  and  is  of  opinion  that  it  was  drawn 
where  it  was  found  by  a  jiarty  who  were  returning 
to  the  ship,  proliably  for  provisions,  and  that 
they  we  .-  unable  to  drag  it  any  further.  ' 

From  Cape  Herschel  to  the  western  extremity  of 
King  AV^illiam's  Land,  the  traces  of  the  natives  Avere 
so  numerous  as  to  lia\t>  ciMiipK'tcly  effaced  those  of  the 
unfortunal !  castaways;  but  from  this  extreme  point 
to  Cape  Felix  the  beach  was  strewn  with  signs  of 
their  miserable  condition,  like  a  rocky  shore  after 
some  disastrous  wreck.  , 

87 


I 


I 


652 


EETURN   OF   THE   FOX. 


"  I 


I' 


By  the  Ist  of  July  1859,  all  the  search-parties  had 
returned  to  the  Fox.  The  homeward  voyage  was 
begun  on  the  9th  of  August,  and  ended  on  the  2 Ist 
of  September.  Three  men  of  the  expedition  had  died 
from  disease  and  accident  during  its  al)sence  from 
England.  Numerous  memorials  of  the  lost  expedition 
were  brought  home,  some  of  which  have  been  de- 
scribed as  follows : — 


"  In  the  first  case  is  the  '  ensign  '  of  one  of  the  ships,  re- 
duced ahiiost  to  shreds,  but  still  prcservir.g  its  colors,  and 
reminding  the  spectators  of  the  many  cheerless  days  upon 
which  it  must  have  fluttered  sadly,  but  still  proudly,  from 
the  niast  of  the  ice-bound  vessel.  In  a  corner  of  the  same 
case  is  also  a  thin  tin  cylinder,  stained  and  timc-wor.i.  The 
casual  spectator  would  hardly  notice  it,  but  it  stands  first  in 
imiiortance  of  all  that  has  been  recovered,  for  it  contains  the 
record  of  the  death  of  Sir  John  Franklin — that  happy  death 
which  saved  our  brave  veteran  all  the  subsequent  horrors  of 
the  journey  to  the  Fish  Kivcr.  Further  on  are  the  rude 
spear-heads  into  which  the  Esquimaux  had  fashioned  the  iron 
they  obtained  from  the  wreck ;  aiul  a  box-wood  two-foot 
rule,  whitened  with  exposure,  but  with  the  figures  on  it  all 
as  bright  as  the  first  day.  This  was,  of  course,  the  property 
of  the  carjienter,  who,  it  would  appear,  had,  even  when 
starting  on  his  dread  journey,  not  forgotten  the  implement  of 
his  trade.  In  the  same  case  is  a  relic  which  will  arrest  the 
eye  of  ninny  a  passer-by.  It  is  the  remains  of  a  silk  neck- 
tie, including  the  bow,  as  carefully  and  elaborately  tied  as  if 
the  poor  wearer  had  been  making  a  wedding  toilette.  This, 
which  was  taken  from  the  neek  of  a  skeleton,  is  supposed  to 
have  belonged  to  the  ship's  steward. 

"  There  are  also  various  articles  of  plate,  the  greater  por- 
tion of  which  is  marked  with  Sir  John  Franklin's  device,  and 
two  pocket  chronometers  in  excellent  prcservution.  A  small 
silver  watch,  maker's  name  '  A.  l^lyers,  London,'  probably 
belonged  to  some  young  mate  or  midshipman  ;  and  a  worm- 
eaten  roll  of  paper,  upon  which  the  single  word  '  Majesty ' 


^ 


RELICS   OP   FRANKLIN. 


653 


V  small 
obably 
worm- 
ujesty ' 


remains,  was  possibly  the  much-prized  warrant  of  some  stout 
boatswain  or  quartermaster.  Tliere  is  a  little  amethyst  seal, 
in  perfect  preservation,  and  goggles  and  snow-veils,  to  pro- 
tect the  eyes  from  the  dazzling  whiteness  of  the  polar  snow. 
Two  double-barrelled  guns,  covered  with  nist,  are  placed  far 
in  on  the  table.  They  still  contain  the  charges  which  were 
placed  in  them  by  hands  which  have  long  since  lost  their 
cunning.  The  books  recovered  are  very  few ;  they  would, 
of  course,  succumb  early  to  the  rigors  of  exposure, — but 
there  is  still  well  preserved  a  small  edition  of  the  '  Vicar  of 
Wakefield,'  some  religious  poetry,  and  a  French  Testament, 
on  the  fly-leaf  of  which  is  written,  in  a  delicate  female  hand, 
'From  your  attached  (the  appellation  is  obliterated)  S.  M.  P.' 
The  open  medicine-chest  contains  all  its  bottles  and  prepara- 
tions very  little  injured,  and  a  little  cooking  machine  has  the 
fuel  arranged,  the  sticks  thrust  through  the  bars  ready  for 
ignition,  and  lucifer  matches  at  the  side,  as  it  might  have 
been  prepared  over  night  fur  the  morning  cooking.  It  would 
be  imj)ossible  to  exaggerate  the  interest  and  importance  of 
all  these  simple  memorials  ;  they  tell  a  tale  that  will  find  its 
way  to  every  heart." 

From  the  meagre  information  obtained  by  the 
various  searchers  for  Franklin,  have  been  drawn  the 
outlines  of  a  connected  account  of  his  expedition 
and  its  fate.  The  Erebus  and  Terror  were  last  seen 
in  July  1845,  in  Baffin's  Bay.  (See  Chapter  XXII.) 
Passing  thence  into  Lancaster  Sound,  they  reached 
Beechey  Island  and  ascended  Wellington  Channel  to 
lat.  77".  In  returning  southerly  they  sailed  around 
Cornwallis  Island,  and  under  the  friendly  shelter  of 
Beechey  Island  reposed  from  their  arduous  lalnu's. 
The  Polar  winter  came  in  u[)()U  them  like  a  giant. 
A  shroud  of  snow  enveloped  the  region,  save  where 
sharp  and  clear  against  the  hard  blue  sky  stood  out 
the  gaunt  mountain  precipices  of  North  Devon  and 
the  dark  and  frowning  cliffs  of  Beechey  Island — cliffs 
too  steep  for  even  snow-flakes  to  hang  upon. 


\ 


I  "^ 


654 


THE  STORT   OF  THE   EXPEDITION. 


i 


m 


] 


I 


The  tale  of  energetic  battle  with  cold,  privation^ 
and  festering  monotony  has  been  often  told ;  why 
repeat  that  the  officers  and  men  under  Franklin  in 
their  first  winter  within  the  Frozen  Zone,  as  nobly 
bore  the  one  and  cheerfully  combatted  the  other? 
The  ruins  and  traces  left  behind  them  all  attest  it. 
The  observatory,  with  its  double  embankment  of 
earth  and  stones,  its  neat  finish,  and  the  lavish  expen- 
diture of  labor  in  pavement  and  pathway  ;  the  shoot- 
ing gallery  under  the  cliff,  the  seats  formed  of  stones, 
the  remains  of  pleasant  picnics  in  empty  bottles  and 
meat-tins  strewed  about:  the  elaborate  cairn  upon 
the  north  point  of  Beechey — a  pyramid  eight  feet 
high,  and  at  least  six  feet  long  on  each  side  of  the 
base — constructed  of  old  meat-tins  filled  Avith  gravel ; 
all  tell  the  same  tale  of  manful  anxiety  for  physical 
employment  to  distract  the  mind  from  suffering  and 
solitude. 

But  at  length  darkness  and  winter  pass  away, 
sunlight  and  spring  return,  and  pale  faces  recover 
their  natural  hue.  The  gi'aves  of  three  of  the  crew 
who  perished  during  the  long  night  are  paved  round 
by  their  messmates,  and  shells  from  the  bay  are 
arranged  above  them;  while  Franklin  selects,  at  the 
request  of  his  men,  epitaphs  which  appeal  to  the 
hearts  of  all — "  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will 
serve,"  etc. 

The  sun  has  ceased  to  set,  night  is  as  the  day,  the 
snow  has  melted ;  the  yards  are  crossed,  rigging  set 
up,  sails  are  bent,  and  all  signs  indicate  that  the 
disruption  of  the  frozen  surface  of  the  sea  is  at  hand. 
The  day  of  release  arrives ;  the  cracks  which  radiate 
over  the  floes  gradually  widen,  then  close  again  with 
heavy  nips.    Presently  the  look-out  man  gives  a  sig- 


THE   STOKY   OF   THE   EXPEDITION. 


655 


the 

set 

the 

band. 

diate 

with 

a  sig- 


nal that  the  ice  is  in  motion.  A  loud  hurrah  wel- 
comes the  joyful  news — a  race  to  witness  the  break-up 
of  the  ice.  It  moves  indeed.  The  floe  heaves  and 
cracks,  now  presses  fearfully  in  one  direction  and 
now  in  another.  A  dull  moaning  is  heard  as  if  the 
very  ice  cried  for  mercy,  and  then,  with  a  sharp  report, 
the  mass  is  shivered  into  fragments.  Water  shows 
in  all  directions,  and  the  next  day  the  ships  are 
sawed  out,  sails  are  set,  and  a  cruise  to  the  westward 
begun. 

At  Cape  Walker  the  ships  come  to  anchor.  An 
impenetrable  ice-stream,  drifting  easterly  from  PaiTy's 
Sound,  renders  further  progress  in  that  direction 
impossible.  Southward  stretches  a  promising  chan- 
nel leading  direct  to  the  American  continent;  and 
down  this  channel — Peel  Sound — the  expedition 
bears  away.  On  the  eastern  hand  rise  the  steep 
black  cliffs  of  North  Somerset,  cut  here  and  there 
with  deep  cleft  and  snow-filled  ravine.  On  the  west- 
ern side,  the  sandstone  cliffs  and  the  sheltered  coves 
of  Prince  of  Wales'  Land,  have  donned  their  brightest 
looks,  and  siren-like,  lure  the  discoverer,  by  many  an 
unexplored  bay  and  fiord,  to  delay  awhile  w^d  visit 
them.  It  may  not  be ;  the  Erebus  and  Terror  press 
on,  for  is  not  Cape  Ilerschel  of  King  William's  Land 
and  the  American  continent  ahead — are  they  not 
fast  nearing  it  ?  Once  there,  will  they  not  have  dis- 
covered the  long-sought  passage  ? 

Two  degrees  of  latitude  are  passed  over;  the 
passage  contracts;  for  .iwliilc  it  looks  as  if  thoy  were 
in  a  cul-de-sac ;  islands  locked  in  with  one  another, 
excite  some  anxiety  for  a  channel.  The  two  ships 
are  close  to  each  other,  the  eager  officers  and  men 
crowd  gunwale  and  tops.     Hepburn  Island  bars  the 


t-i 


!i;i 


I 


I' 


656 


THE   STORY   OF  THE  EXPEDITION". 


way ;  they  round  it.  Hurrah,  hurrah  I  the  path 
opens  before  them,  the  lands  on  either  hand  recede, 
a  sea,  an  open  sea,  is  before  them.  They  dip  their 
ensigns,  and  cheer  each  other  in  friendly  congratula- 
tion ;  joy,  joy  !  another  one  hundred  miles,  and  King 
William's  Island  will  rise  in  view.  The  prize  is  now 
within  their  grasp,  whatever  be  the  cost. 

The  sailor's  prayer  for  open  water  is,  however,  only 
granted  in  a  limited  sense,  for  when  the  coast  of 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island  is  lost  to  view,  and  they  are 
no  longer  shielded  by  land  to  the  west,  the  great  ice- 
stream  from  Melville  Island  again  falls  upon  it.  The 
ships  pass  Bellot  Strait,  and  advance  down  the 
edge  of  that  ice-stream  as  far  as  latitude  71** ;  then 
they  must  enter  the  pack  and  go  with  it  to  the  south- 
west. Had  they  not  already  passed  over  two  hun- 
dred of  the  three  hundred  miles  between  Cape 
Walker  and  Cape  Herschel  ?  Were  they  the  men  to 
flinch  from  a  struggle  for  the  remaining  hundred 
miles  ? 

That  stiuggle  commenced  as  the  winter  closed  in, 
and  just  as  King  William's  Land  was  in  sight  the 
Erebus  and  Terror  were  about  twelve  miles  north  of 
Cape  Felix.  More  dangerous  and  unpromising  quar- 
ters could  hardly  have  fallen  to  their  lot.  Six- 
teen years  previously  Ross  had  stood  upon  Cape  Felix 
in  the  month  of  May,  and  observed  with  astonishment 
the  fearful  nature  of  the  oceanic  ice  which  was 
pressed  upon  tlie  shores,  and  had  in  some  places  been 
driven  inward  half  a  mile. 

The  second  Avinter  passes  away  and  when  May 
comes  in,  Gore  and  Vceux,  with  six  men,  leave  the 
Erebus  on  an  excursion  southward.  In  the  cairn 
built  by  Ross  at  Point  Victory  they  deposit  a  record, 


ith 
ie, 
eir 
ila- 
ing 
ow 

aly 
of 
are 
ice- 
rhe 
the 
hen 
nth- 
mil- 
Jape 
Q  to 
Ired 


I  in, 
the 

li  of 
[uar- 

Six- 
i'elix 
nent 

was 
"been 

May 
B  the 
cairn 
cord, 


V 


I  r 


I: 


i  M„ 


THE   ERF.BrS    AND  TERROR    IN    THE    ICE-STIIKAM. 


t'UNKRAL   or    SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN. 


O 
b 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   EXPEDITION. 


659 


and  in  a  week  more  stand  on  Cape  llerscliel;  tlien, 
after  gaziniij  on  the  shores  of  America,  tliey  hasten 
back  to  cari-y  the  glad  tidings  tliat  the  ships  are 
really  in  the  direct  channel  leading  to  those  Avaters 
and  shores  ti'aversed  ])y  Franklin  in  former  years, 
and  that  the  long-sought  passage  is  at  last  discovered. 

Alas  !  why  do  their  shipmates  meet  the  Hushed 
travelers  with  sorrow  inii)rinted  on  pale  countenances  ? 
Why,  as  they  cheer  at  the  glad  tidings  they  hring, 
does  the  tear  suffuse  the  eye  of  these  rough  and  hardy 
men  ?  Theii-  chief  lies  on  his  death-bed ;  a  long 
career  of  honor  and  of  worth  is  drawing  to  its  close. 
The  sliout  of  victory,  which  cheered  the  last  hours  of 
Nelson  and  of  Wolfe,  rang  not  less  heartily  round 
the  bed  of  the  gallant  Franklin,  and  lit  up  that  kind 
eye  Avith  its  last  gleam  of  triumph.  Like  another 
Moses,  he  fell  Avhen  his  work  was  accomplished  with 
the  creat  oltject  of  his  life  in  view. 

A  toll  for  tlie  brave — the  drooping  ensigns  of  Eng- 
land trail  only  half-mast ;  officers  and  men  Avith  sad 
faces  walk  lightly  as  if  they  feared  to  disturb  the 
mortal  remains  of  iiim  they  love  so  much.  The  sol- 
emn jx'.-il  of  tlie  ship's  bell  rever})erates  amongst  the 
masses  of  solid  ice ;  a  grouj)  of  affectionate  followers 
stand  around  a  huge  chasm  in  the  ice,  and  Fitejames 
reads  the  service  for  the  dead  over  the  grave  of  Frank- 
lin. 

The  sumuKM'  wears  away,  and  at  last  the  ice-stream 
again  moves  slowly  to  the  soulli.  Ten  miles,  t\venty 
miles  thirty  miles  ai'c  .•ici'oiii|ilis]ic(l,  tli»)nL!,'h  notafoot 
of  open  water  has  l)een  seen.  Then  the  new  ice 
begins  to  form,  the  drift  diminishes,  and  Avhen  fifteen 
miles  north  of  Cajx;  Yictoiy  and  only  ninety  miles 
from  the  continent  the  ships  are  again  stationary,  and 


II  i 


nil 

:';  !  'i 

;  lil 


s., 


660 


THE  STOKY   Ol'  THE   EXPEDITION. 


the  winter  of  1847-48  closeH  around  tlieso  forloin  and 
now  desperate  men. 

The  sun  of  1848  rises  a(j-  in  ujxm  the  imprison- k1 
exjiedition,  and  never  did  it  look  doAvn  on  a  sadder 
sight.  Nine  officers  and  twelve  men  have  ])erished 
during  the  past  winter;  the  survivors  one  hundred 
and  five  in  nunil)er,  a  wan,  lialf-starved  crew,  must 
leave  the  ships  and  escape  for  their  lives.  Sledges 
are  leaded  with  such  articles  as  they  suppose -may  be 
of  use.  Two  large  hoats  are  rigged  on  sledges,  and 
in  them  the  sick  and  disabled  are  placed.  Car..  ^'<^ 
taken  to  have  plenty  of  guns,  po^vder,  and  shot,  for 
provisions  are  scarce,  and  they  hope  to  find  deer  in 
the  i-egion  of  the  Great  Fish  Kiver. 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1848,  the  men  fell  into  the 
drag-ropes  of  their  sledges  and  boats ;  the  colors  were 
hoisted  on  the  ships,  three  cheers  were  given,  and 
without  a  blush  at  deserting  the  Erebus  and  TeiTor, 
Crozier  and  Fitzjames  lead  the  "vvay  to  the  nearest 
land  named  Cape  Victory.  It  took  three  dajs  to  travel 
these  fifteen  miles,  and  already  the  sad  conviction  was 
peeping  upon  them  that  they  had  over-estimated 
their  j)hysical  strength.  Around  the  large  cairn  at 
Point  Victory  the  shivering  men  cast  away  every- 
thing -that  could  be  spared.  Unrolling  the  record 
left  hei'e  in  the  previous  year  by  Lieut.  Gore,  Fitz- 
james  wrote  around  its  margin  those  few  but  gra})hic 
words  which  tell  all  we  shall  ever  know  of  this  last 
page  in  their  history. 

In  spite  of  frost-bites  and  fatigue  the  party  presses 
on.  They  must  keep  moving  southward  or  their  pro- 
visions will  be  gone  before  they  reach  the  continent. 
Day  In-  day  they  grow  weaker  and  weaker  under  the 
toil  of  dragging  their  sledges  and  disabled  comrades 


THE   STORY   OP  THE   EXPEDITION. 


661 


through  the  deej)  snow  and  over  tlie  nigfjed  ice,  and 
at  last,  Avhen  lialf  Avuy  between  Point  V^ictory  and 
Cape  Ilerscliel  it  becomes  api)arent  tliat  if  any  are  to 
be  saved  there  must  b(^  a  division  of  the  parties  and 
that  tlie  sick  and  weak  must  stay  behind  or  return 
to  the  sliips.  One  of  the  large  boats  is  here  turned 
with  her  l)ow  northward,  some  stay  witli  it,  and  all 
that  is  known  of  their  fate  is,  that  years  afterward 
the  boat  was  found  buried  in  tlie  snow  with  two 
skelet«>ns  liierein  ;  and  that  the  wandering  Es(|uimaux 
found  another  skeleton  in  on(f  of  the  ships. 

The  stronger  portion  of  the  divided  crews  pushed 
southward  and  reached  the  cairn  on  Cape  ITerschel; 
no  one  had  visited  it  since  it  Avas  erected  by  Dease 
and  Simpson  in  1830.  Ten  miks  further  on  at  least 
one  of  them  died,  "  with  his  face  to  the  ground  and  his 
head  toward  Fish  River;"  and  little  else  is  known  of 
this  "  forlorn  hope "  than  the  information  collected 
from  the  Escpiimaux  by  Dr.  Rae,  and  given  at  com- 
mencement of  this  chapter.  It  is  probable  that  the 
survivors,  under  Fitzjames,  pushed  on  to  perish  in  the 
wilds  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Territory.  Capt.  Hall, 
however,  after  visiting  King  William's  Land,  conclu- 
ded that  none  of  the  j^arty  ever  reached  the  conti- 
nent. The  results  of  his  seai'chea  for  Franklin  are 
given  in  another  chapter. 

The  point  at  which  the  fatal  imprisonment  of  the 
Erebus  and  Terror  in  184G  took  place,  was  only 
ninety  miles  from  the  liniit  reached  by  Dease  and 
Simpson.  Ninety  miles  more  of  open  water,  and 
Franklin  and  his  heroic  followers  would  not  only  have 
won  the  prize  for  Avhicli  they  had  so  bravel)-  strug- 
gled, but  have  gained  their  homes  to  enjoy  their  well- 
merited  honors.  Such,  however,  was  not  to  be  the  case. 


I  SI 


«p 


662 


THE   STOKY   OF   THE  EXPEDITION. 


"  They  were  to  discover  the  great  Liglnvay  between 
the  Pacific  and  the  Atlantic.  It  was  given  tliem  to 
win  for  their  country  a  discovery  for  which  she  had 
risked  her  sons  and  lavishly  spent  her  wealth  through 
many  centiii'ies;  hut  they  were  to  die  in  accomplish- 
ing their  last  great  earthly  task ;  and,  still  more 
strange,  but  for  the  energy  and  devotion  of  the  wife 
of  their  chief  and  leader,  it  Avould  in  all  pro1)al>ility 
never  have  been  known,  that  they  w.m'c  indeed  the 
first  discoverers  of  the  North-Avest  Passage."  The 
shores  along  which  they  fled  are  sacred  to  their  mem- 
ory, and  1)ear  the  name-*  of  Franklin,  Crozier,  Fitz- 
james,  Little,  Irving,  Gore,  Hodgson.  Fairholm,  and 
other  members  of  the  lost  expedition. 


. 


If 


m  'i 


i    \\ 


CHAI^EK  XXXIX. 
ARCTIC  SIBEKIA  AND  ITS  EXPLORERS. 

SibKRTA,  tlie  entire  iiortliern  part  of  Asia,  was  for 
0  Tituries  the  hattle-field  of  the  Russians  and  Tartars, 
and  its  ex]doration  may  he  dated  from  the  period 
when  tlie  Russians  freed  themselves  fi'om  tlie  yoke  of 
their  contpierors.  In  1580,  u  l)ody  of  wandei'ins;  Cos- 
saclvs,  searL;hing  for  sal )le  furs,  crossed  the  Ui'al  Moun- 
tains, and  found  a  Tartar  kingdom  of  Avliich  SiLir 
was  the  cajiital.  A  struggle  ensued,  the  Russian 
power  sprt'ad,  and  in  less  than  one  hundi'ed  years  a 
few  Cossack  hunters  had,  Ly  their  exertions  and  the 
advantage  which  the  possession  of  fire-arms  gave 
them,  added  to  Russia  a  territory  larger  in  extent 
than  all  Euro])e. 

Siberia  is  rich  in  mines,  fossil  ivory,  and  saLle,  but 
it  is  chieily  noted  as  being  the  great  Russian  ])cniten- 
tiary,  to  Avhicli  criminals  and  all  Avho  have  fallen 
under  the  dis[)U'asure  of  the  government  are  banished. 
]\[any  a  wretched  exile,  the  victim  of  state  intrigues 
and  despotism,  has  here  dragged  out  a  miserable 
existence;  and  hundreds  of  uuhapjiy  Poles,  whose 
greatest  crime  was  a  devotion  to  thcii-  oppi-esscd 
native  land,  have  been  |>crj)crual]y  hanislicd  to  these 
dreary  regions.  The  worst  criminals  are  sent  to  the 
mines ;  the  other  exiles  are  furnished  with  snuill  farm- 

003 


■'  1 

i'^  ii 

i    i' 

■    f' 

■'   1 

;i    ^ 

' 

I 

: 

1 

;i 


0 

i 


|i; 

ill! 

■i  ii 

M 

664 


SIBERIAN  EXILES. 


ii!- 


I 


ing  outfits  .111(1  left  to  their  own  resources.  They 
have  contributed  greatly  to  the  improvement  and 
civilization  of  the  country,  and  many  of  them  are 
contented,  happy,  and  evuii  wealthy  iu  their  compul- 
sory homes. 

The  discovery  of  the  shores  of  the  Polar  ocean,  from 
Bering's  Strait  westerly  to  Nova  Zemhla  (145  degrees 
of  longitude)  is  due  to  the  Russians.  Those  shores 
are,  perhaps,  the  most  desolate  on  the  wliole  Arctic 
circle.  Tiie  SiT)erian  rivers — the  01)i,  the  Yenisei,  the 
Lena,  the  Indigirka  and  Kolyma — rise  in  tlie  Altai 
mountains,  and  flow  in  their  upj^er  courses,  through 
forests  of  tall  trees.  But,  Itefore  they  reach  the  Polar 
ocean,  they  traverse  a  dreary  region  of  frozen  swamp, 
which  is  l)arely  habitable,  called  the  tundra.  Here 
the  land  is  frozen  for  many  feet  below  the  surface. 
The  rivers,  during  times  of  flood,  bring  down  vast 
quantities  of  uprooted  trees,  which  line  their  b.'.nks 
in  immense  masses,  and  are  eventually  c:u-i'ied  into 
the  Polar  sea,  to  be  drifted  away  with  the  current 
which  flows  from  east  to  west  along  the  Siberian 
coast. 

The  endeavors  of  the  Russians  to  double  the  extreme 
northern  points  of  Siberia — Capes  Taimyr  and  Chel- 
yuskin, the  latter  in  77"  .'■)()'  N.,— have  hitherto 
been  unsuccessful.  Tlu;  Russians,  in  veiy  early  times, 
constantly  w(Mit  from  Archangel  to  the  mouth  of  the 
01)i,  creeping  along  between  the  land  and  ice  in  the  sea 
of  Kara,  and  usually  hauling  their  boats,  or  /oflias, 
across  the  isthmus  l)et\veen  Kara  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of 
the  Obi.  In  the  last  century  several  e\])editions 
were  sent  by  the  Russian  (Jovernnient  in  the  jame 
direction,  and  v«!ssels  reached  the  intuith  of  the 
Pyasina,  on  the  west  side  of  the  northern  point  of 


VOYAGE   OF   DDSIINEP. 


665 


Siberia,  and  tlie  Kliatangu  on  tlie  east  side.  But  no 
navigator  has  ever  doubled  tliat  most  nortlieru  cape 
of  the  Asiatic  continent. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Lena  eastward,  vessels  have 
fre(iuently  I'eached  the  river  Kolyma,  but  the  doubling 
of  the  ca})e^  still  farther  east  has  l)eeu  attended  with 
great  difficulty.  Nijni  Kolymsk,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Kolyma,  was  founded  in  1G44,  by  a  Cossack 
named  Michael  Staduchiu  ;  and,  in  1048,  another  Cos- 
sack named  Simon  Deshnef  c(jui])ped  an  expedition 
there,  consisting  of  tlii'ee  small  craft  which  were 
broad,  flat-bottomed,  decked  vessels,  about  seventy  feet 
long,  ^vith  botli  sails  and  oars.  He  rounded  Cape 
Chelagf^koi,  ])assed  through  the  strait  afterwards 
named  after  Bering  the  explorer,  and  reached  the 
Gnlf  of  Anadyi".  ]\Iost  of  his  men  died  of  hunger; 
but  Deshnef  himself  succeeded  in  establishing  a  wal- 
rus fishery  in  the  Anadyi-. 

Peter  the  Gi-eat  desired  that  the  whole  northern 
coast  of  Siberia  should  Ix;  explored  by  sea,  and  he 
died  a  few  days  after  giving  his  instructions  to 
Captain  Vitus  Bering  Avith  his  own  hand,  in  1725. 
Bering  was  a  Dune,  in  the  llussian  service.  He  Avas 
desj)atclied  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  furtliest  point 
of  Siberia  with  sailors  and  shipwrights,  and  two 
vessels  were  built  at  Okhotsk  and  in  Kamchatka,  the 
"  Gabriel "  and  the  " Foituna."  In  July,  1 728,  he  sailed 
from  the  river  of  Kamchatka,  and  examined  the  coast 
for  some  distance  to  the  north  war. I,  ascertaining  the 
existence  of  a  strait  Ix'tween  Asia  and  America.  In 
Septend)er,  1740,  Beiiug  sailed  again  from  Okhc^tsk, 
in  a  vessel  called  the  "  St.  Paul,"  with  another  in  com- 
pany, called  the  "St.  Peter,"  commanded  by  Lieut, 
^hirikof.     George  W.  Steller  embarked  with  Bering 


666 


BERING  S   DISCOVERIES. 


as  naturalist  of  the  expedition.  The  two  ships  sepa- 
rated soon  after  sailinsj  and  did  not  meet  ao;ain. 

In  June,  1741,  they  discovered  the  American  coast, 
and  that  magnificent  peak,  named  by  Bering  Mount  St. 
Elias.  The  Aleutian  Islands  were  explored,  but 
scurvy  broke  out  amongst  the  crews;  Bering  also 
was  attacked  by  it,  and  in  November  his  ship  was 
wrecked  on  an  island  which  was  named  after  the  ill- 
fated  discoverer  himself,  who  was  carried  on  shore, 
and  placed  in  a  sort  of  pit  or  cavern  dug  in  the  side 
of  a  sand-hill.  Here  he  was  almost  buried  alive,  for 
the  sand  was  continually  rolling  down,  and  he 
requested  that  it  might  not  be  removed,  as  it  kept 
him  warm.  In  this  miserable  condition  poor  Bering 
died,  December  8th,  1741. 

Steller  was  naturally  anxious  to  procure  supplies 
of  animal  food  for  his  scurvy-stricken  patients,  and 
he  carefully  examined  into  the  natural  histf)ry  of  the 
island.  He  attributed  the  cure  of  thf»se  who  recov- 
ered, to  the  flesh  of  the  sea-otter.  Thirty  of  the  crew 
died  on  the  island,  and  the  forty-five  survivors  escaped 
to  Kamchatka  in  a  little  vessel  l)iiilt  from  the  wreck 
of  the  *'St.  Paul."  The  most  remarkable  and  inter- 
esting event  of  this  voyage  was  the  discovery  by 
Steller  of  a  rare  and  solitary  species  of  manatee  or 
sea-cow,  called  Hytitia  Stelleres.  It  has  since  l)een 
hunted  and  probably  exterminated,  for  no  specimen 
has  ])een  seen  for  more  than  seventy  years.  This 
creature  had  a  sort  of  bark  an  inch  thick,  composed 
of  fibres  or  tubes  perpendicular  on  the  skin,  and  so 
hard  that  steel  could  penetrate  it  with  diflficulty.  It 
lived  on  sea-weed. 

In  1734,  Lieut.  Muravief  sailed  from  Archangel 
towards  the  river  Obi,  but  was  stopped  by  the  ice 


CHELTU8K1N  S   EXPLORATIONS. 


667 


SO 

It 


in  the  sea  of  Kara.  In  1738,  however,  Lieut's.  Malgyn 
and  Shurakoft'  douLled  the  promontory  witli  great 
difficulty  and  reached  tlie  mouth  of  the  0])i.  The 
next  step  "was  to  sail  from  the  Obi  to  the  Yenisei. 
This  was  effected  in  the  same  yeai"  l)y  Lieut.  Koshelef. 
In  the  same  memorable  year  for  Siberian  ex])loration, 
the  pilot  Menin  sailed  from  the  Yenisei  towards  the 
Lena,  but  Avas  stopped  by  the  ice  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Pyasina,  and  returned  unsuccessful, 

Tliree  years  before,  in  1735,  Lieut.  Pronchishchef 
made  a  similar  attempt  from  the  eastern  side.  He 
sailed  down  the  Lena  from  Yakutsk,  accompanied  by 
his  wife,  Init  was  hampered  by  ice,  which  only  left  a 
passage  of  two  hundred  yards  along  the  coast,  and 
was  at  last  (>l)liged  to  winter  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Olenek.  The  following  year  he  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Khatanga,  and  pushed  beyond  it,  but  found 
himself  at  last  closely  beset  near  Cape  Chelyuskin,  his 
extreme  northern  point  being  77*^  25'.  He  and  his 
wife  died  at  the  winter-quarters,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Olenek,  and  the  command  devolv^ed  upon  Lieut. 
Chel}'uskin  avIio  retui-ned.  In  May,  1740,  Lieut. 
Laptef  found  fixed  and  impenetrable  ice  in  the  same 
place,  and  rtiturned  convinced  of  the  im[)ossibility  of 
sailing  round  Ca])e  Taimyr.  But  in  17-12,  Chelyuskin 
reached  the  northernmost  point  of  the  continent  in 
sledges,  in  latitude  77^*  31'  N.,  doubled  it,  and 
returned  to  the  mouth  of  tlie  Taimyr.  This  cape  is 
noAV  kn(nvn  as  Cape  Chelyuskin. 

After  Bering's  Strait,  the  most  important  discov- 
eiy  of  the  Russians  during  the  last  ceutur}-  N\as  that 
of  the  Islaiuls  of  New  Siberia  in  the  Polar  ocean, 
opposite  the  coast  between  the  mouths  of  the  Lena 
and  ludigirka.     In  March,  1770,  a  merchant  named 


i 


!li 


ill 


M 


if 


tV/.l. 


668 


THE   NEW   SIBERIA   ISLANDS. 


I:     . 


Lialvhof  saw  a  large  herd  of  reindeer  coming  over  tlie 
ice  from  the  north,  which  induced  him  to  start  with 
sledges  early  in  April,  to  trace  the  tracks  they  had 
left.  After  a  joui-ney  of  fifty  miles  over  the  ice,  he 
discovered  three  large  islands,  and  the  following  year 
obtained  the  exclusive  right  from  the  Empress  Cathe- 
rine to  dig  for  mammoth  bones  on  them. 

Immense  alluvial  deposits,  filled  with  wood  and 
the  fossil  bones  of  animals,  are  found  throughout  the 
shores  of  Arctic  Siberia ;  but  in  the  cliffs  or  "  wood 
hills"  of  the  New  Siberia  Islands  these  deposits  are 
still  more  j^lentiful.  For  years  after  their  first  dis- 
covery the  seekers  for  fossil  ivory  annually  resorted 
to  these  islands;  and,  in  1821,  the  fossil  ivory  thus 
procured  weighed  twenty  thousand  lbs.  Iledenstrom, 
a  Russian  oflicer,  residing  at  Yakutsk,  Avas  employed 
by  the  Governmenc  to  siirvey  the  !New  Siberia 
Islands  in  1809,  and  occupied  three  years  in  their 
exploration.  He  reported,  in  1810,  that,  to  the  north- 
ward of  these  islands  during  three  years,  he  was 
always  stopped  at  a  short  distance  from  the  land  by 
weak  ice. 

In  March,  1821,  Lieut.Anjou,  afterwards  Admiral, 
went  across  the  ice  with  dog  sledges,  to  the  Kotelnoi 
Island.  He  then  traveled  over  the  ice  to  the  north- 
ward in  April,  and  saw  vapor  rising  to  the  north-west 
when  at  a  distance  of  forty-two  miles  from  Kotelnoi 
(lat.  70*  38'),  which  led  him  to  suppose  that  there 
was  open  watt/  in  that  direction.  But  Wrangell  tells 
us  tliat  when  the  ice  cracks,  even  in  places  where  it 
is  thick  and  solid,  vaporization  immediately  ensues, 
which  is  more  or  less  dense  according  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  atmosphere. 

In  March,  1823,  Anjou  again  crossed  to  the  New 


ANJOU  8   TRAVELS. 


669 


Siberia  Islands.  Open  sea,  with  drifting  masses  of 
ice,  was  seen  on  the  26th,  the  ice  drifting  from  east 
to  west.  The  frequenters  of  the  islands  believe  this 
current  to  be  the  e})b  tide.  On  the  9th  of  April  he 
started  over  the  ice  to  the  eastward,  and  met  with 
thin  ice  on  the  14th,  at  a  distance  of  sixty  miles;  but 
lines  of  imi)assable  hummocks  obliged  him  to  make 
for  the  mainland. 

Anjou  arrived  at  the  conviction  that  all  efforts  to 
advance  by  the  ice  to  any  considerable  distance  from 
land  would  prove  unavailing,  owing  to  the  thinness 
of  the  ice  and  to  the  open  water  within  twenty  to 
thirty  miles  of  the  islands.  His  expedition,  however, 
effected  a  complete  survey  of  this  interesting  group. 
The  sea  between  the  islands  and  Siberia  is  not  com- 
pletely frozen  over  nntil  the  end  of  October,  and  the 
coasts  are  free  by  the  end  of  July.  Throughout  the 
summer  the  sea  is  covered  with  fields  of  ice,  drifting 
to  and  fro  with  Avinclt:  and  currents. 

While  Anjou  was  conducting  these  explorations, 
Wrangell  Avas  prosecuting  similar  researches  from  his 
head-quarters  at  Nijni  Kolymsk,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Kolyma,  to  reach  which  place  he  had  traveled 
overland  from  St.  Petersburg,  a  distance  of  nearly 
five  thousand  miles.  On  the  way  he  passed  through 
Yakutsk,  a  flourishing  city  of  four  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, situated  on  the  Lena  River,  and  a  commercial 
center  of  the  fur  and  ivory  trade.  Its  dwellings  con- 
sist chiefly  of  Yourts,  with  turf-covered  roofs,  doors  of 


skins,  and   windows   of   \ro.     During  the  month  of 


January  the  thermometer  stands  on  an  average  of 
45^  l)elow  zero.  According  to  Sir  Edward  Brewster, 
Yakutsk  is  near  the  "  Asiatic  pole  of  cold,"  one  of 
the  two  coldest  points  on  the  globe. 


670 


WRANGELL  8  EXPLORATIONS. 


"WrrtTigell  made  four  journeys  on  the  Polar  Sea,  ac- 
complished in  dog  sledges  called  narti.  The  runners 
are  of  Lirchwood,  and  the  upper  surface  of  the 
sledge  of  willow  shoots  woven  together.  All  the 
parts  are  fastened  together  with  hide  thongs.  When 
in  use  the  sledges  are  turned  over,  and  water  is  poured 
on  the  runners  to  produce  a  thin  ci-ust  of  ice,  which 
glides  easily  over  the  snow,  and  the  icy  runner  is 
called  wodiat.  As  spiing  advances  it  of  course  be- 
comes useless,  and  whalebone  is  sometimes  substituted. 

"Wrancjoll  considered  March  to  be  the  best  time  of 
the  year  for  sledging,  when  it  is  easier  Avork  for  the 
dogs.  A  well-loaded  sledge  required  a  team  of  twelve 
dogs,  which  were  fed  on  frozen  heri'ings.  The  men 
wore  reindeer-skin  shirts,  great  li'uthern  boots  lined 
with  fnr,  a  fur  cap,  and  reindeer-skin  gloves.  The 
party  had  a  conical  tent  of  reindeer-skin,  with  a  light 
framework  of  six  poles;  and,  when  they  encamped, 
they  lighted  a  fire  in  the  centre  of  it,  and  were  half 
smothered.  Each  man  aiept  on  a  bear-skin,  and  a 
reindeer-skin  coverlet  was  provided  for  every  two. 

In  his  first  journey,  during  March,  1820,  Wrangell 
explored  the  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kolyma  to 
Cape  Chelagskoi.  His  second  journey  was  undertaken 
in  order  to  see  how  far  he  could  go  over  the  ice  to  the 
northward  away  from  the  Siberian  coast,  and  he 
started  March  27th,  1821.  At  a  distance  of  two  miles 
from  the  shore,  the  party  had  to  cross  a  chain  of  high 
and  rugged  hummocks  five  miles  wide,  })eyond  which 
there  was  an  extensive  plain  of  ice.  AVrangell  con- 
tinued to  advance  to  the  northward  for  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  Avhen  he  found  the  ice 
to  be  very  thin  and  weak,  owing  to  large  patches  of 
brine  that  were  lodged  on  the  snow.    There  were 


SKILL   OF    SIBERIAN   SLEDGE-DH   VERS. 


G71 


craclcs  in  every  direction,  thronqliAvhicli  the  sea- water 
came  up,  and  tlie  ice  was  seai*cel}  a  foot  thick.  It 
was  therefore  deemed  prudent  to  commence  a  retreat 
on  the  4tli  of  Apiil. 

In  approachin;^  the  'oast  again,  they  had  to  cross 
ranges  of  hummocks  of  gi'eeiiisli-bhie  colored  ice, 
often  eighty  and  ninety  feet  in  height,  denoting  tre- 
memhius  pressure  during  the  winter.  Wrangell 
returned  to  Kijni  Kolymsk  April  tiStli,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  thirty-six  days,  during  which  hue  he  had 
traveh'd  over  eight  hundred  miles.  He  w;i-  mufh 
struck  during  this  journey  at  the  wonderful  skill  dis- 
played by  the  sledge-drivers  in  finding  their  way  by 
watching  the  wave-like  stripes  of  snow,  formed  by 
the  wind,  which  are  called  in  Sib«'iia  SastnKjL  The 
ridges  always  indicate  the  quarter  from  which  the 
prevailing  winds  IjIow.  The  inhabitants  of  the  tun- 
dras often  travel  over  several  hundred  mile^  with  no 
other  guide  than  these  sastrvgi.  They  know  by 
experience  at  what  angle  they  must  cross  the  greater 
and  lesser  waves  of  snow,  in  order  to  aiTive  at  their 
destination,  and  they  never  fail.  It  often  ha]>pen9 
that  the  true,  permanent  sastnigi  have  been  obliter- 
ated by  others  produced  by  temporary  winds ;  Init  the 
traveler  is  not  deceived  tliere])y ;  his  practised  eye 
detects  che  change,  he  carefully  removes  the  recently 
drifted  snow,  and  corrects  his  course  by  the  lower 
sastnigi,  and  by  the  angle  formed  by  the  two. 

On  his  third  Jouraey  "Wrangell  started  northward 
from  the  coast  March  ^(^\]\,  1822,  cliioHy  with  the 
ol)ject  of  ascertaining  the  truth  of  a  native  report  that 
there  was  high  land  in  tliat  direction.  After  travel- 
ing for  many  days  over  very  difficult  hummocks,  the 
party  came  to  such  weak  ice,  broken  up  by  so  many 


111 


!<'   ''I 


ill 

i 

m 

Am 


III 


H 


[> 


t  I  i 


672 


WBANGELLi*   LAST   JOUKNET. 


cracks,  tlmt  Wmngell  supposed  the  open  sea  must  be 
at  haiul,  and  deemed  it  prudent  to  return,  when  one 
hundred  and  seventy  mih'S  from  th<'  huid.  On  this 
journey  he  traveled  over  nine  hundred  miles. 

Wrangell's  fourth  and  last  journey  was  conumniced 
Mareh  14th,  1823,  and  Cape  Clielagskoi  was  reached 
on  the  18th.  A  Tuski  chief  here  informed  hini  that, 
from  an  adjacent  part  of  the  coast,  on  a  dear  sum^ 
mer  s  day,  snow-covered  mountains  might  be  descried 
at  a  great  distance  to  the  north,  and  that  herds  of 
reindeer  sometimes  came  across  the  iee  of  the  sea, 
probably  from  thence.  The  nrtives  concur  in  stating 
that  Cape  Jakan  is  tlie  nearest  point  to  this  northern 
land.  The  party  struck  off  across  the  ice  to  the 
northward  when  they  had  gone  a  little  beyond  Cape 
Clielagskoi ;  but  a  violent  gale  of  wind  cracked  and 
broke  \ip  the  ice,  which  was  only  three  feet  thick, 
placing  them  in  considerable  danger.  As  they  ad- 
vanced it  became  thinner,  and  they  only  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  cracks,  just  frozen  over,  in  safety,  owing 
to  the  incredibly  swift  running  of  the  dogs.  Wran. 
gell  was  obliged  to  turn  back  at  a  distance  of  seventy 
miles  from  the  land,  and  in  reaching  it  they  had  to 
ferry  themselves  across  nuuiy  cracks,  on  j)ieces  of  ice, 
the  ilogs  swimming  and  t<nving.  To  the  west  the  sea 
appeared  completely  o])en,  with  floating  ice,  and  dark 
vapors  ascending  from  it  obscured  the  horizon.  Lanes 
of  water  were  opening  in  all  directions,  and,  without 
a  boat,  the  little  party  w^as  placed  in  a  position  of 
extreme  danger.  A  gale  of  wind  dashed  the  pieces 
of  ic«;  against  each  other  with  a  loud,  crashing  noise, 
and  split  many  of  the  floes  into  fragments.  The  dogs 
saved  them.  They  dashed  wii  ily  and  swiftly  towards 
the  land,  and  reached  it  on  the  27th. 


WRANOELL   LAND. 


673 


Wrangell  contiimod  the  coast  survey  for  some  time 
longer,  un«l  returned  to  Nijiii  Kolynisk  May  lOtli, 
ai't(4'  an  absence  of  seventy-eight  days,  liaving  traveled 
over  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty  miles.  Thus  ended 
the  SiM'ies  of  attempts  to  reach  the  unknown  north- 
ern land,  whicli,  tliough  not  seen  by  him,  Wrangell 
still  thinks  may  jjossibly  exist.  It  was  sighted  by 
Captain  Kellett,  and  afterwards,  in  1807,  by  Captain 
Long,  an  Amei'ican  whaler,  who  approached  from 
Bering's  Sti'ait;  and  it  is  now  marked  on  the  maps  as 
AVi'angell  Land.  On  WrangelTs  map  it  is  stated 
that  the  mountains  are  visible,  from  Cape  Jakan,  in 
clear  summer  weather. 

Li  1843,  Middendorf  was  sent  to  explore  the 
regions  which  terminate  in  Cape  Taimyr,  by  land. 
He  descended  the  river  Khatanga,  and  reached  the 
Taimyr  lake  in  June.  Li  August  he  arrived  at  the 
shores  of  the  Polar  Sea,  and  sighted  Cape  Taimyr, 
■whence  he  saw  open  Avater,  and  no  ice-blink  in  any 
direction.  Tie  found  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  to 
be  as  much  as  thirty-six  feet.  His  visit  was,  how- 
evei',  in  the  very  height  of  the  short  Arctic  sununer. 

The  observations  of  lledenstrom,  Anjou,  and  Wran- 
gell, have  led  Russian  geographers  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  a  part  of  the  Polar  ocean  always  an  open 
sea,  extending  from  some  twenty  miles  north  of  the 
New  Siberia  Islands  to  about  the  same  distance  off 
the  coast  of  the  continent  between  Cape  Chelagskoi 
and  Cape  North.  This  oj)inion  rests  on  the  instances 
in  which  these  e\|)l(>r<Ms,  in  ^Farcli  and  April, 
encountered  either  o])en  water  covered  with  louse 
floes  or  very  thin  ice,  indicative  of  its  immediate 
vicinity,  at  different  j)oints  of  this  line.  Wrangell 
considered  that  the  fact  of  the  northerly  winds  being 


ill 


i!  ?! 


.a 


m 


674 


THE   "great  RUSSIAN   POLYNIA." 


sufficiently  damp  to  wet  tlie  clothes  of  his  party,  was  a 
further  corroboi'tition  of  the  existence  of  an  open  sea  in 
that  direction.  In  summer,  the  current  along  the  Sibe- 
rian coast  is  from  east  to  west,  and  in  autumn  from  west 
to  east.  On  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  in  the  great 
Siberian  rivers  their  waters  help  to  drive  the  floes 
froni  the  coast,  and  the  westerly  current  then  carries 
them  in  hea\ily-]^acked.  masses  towards  the  Atlantic, 
and  millions  of  tons  of  ice  are  thus  sent  to  swell  the 
size  of  the  polar  pack,  and  are  annually  melted 
between  Greenland  and  Nova  Zembla. 

Wrangell,  using  an  allowable  poetical  license,  has 
called  tlie  open  ^vater  off  the  Siberian  coast  "the 
wid«^  immeasurable  ocean;"  and  ever  since  the  "great 
Polynia  of  the  Russians  "  has  been  a  jdirase  on  which 
geographical  theorists  have  founded  the  wildest  spec- 
ulations. Now,  in  all  parts  of  the  Arctic  regions 
the  ice  is  more  or  les';  in  motion  during  the  summer, 
so  that  the  observation  of  oj)en  Ava':er  by  Middendoi-f, 
near  Cape  Taimyr  in  Auijust,  is  nothing  i-emarkaMe. 

There  can  be  no  reason  to  d)ubt  that,  owing  to 
strons:  ciin'ents  and  y'ales  of  winds,  the  ice  is  in 
motion  off  the  coast  of  Siberia  ^-cy  early  in  the 
sjjring,  giving  rise  to  polynias,  or  lanes  and  pools 
of  water ;  ])ut  there  is  nothing  in  the  observations  of 
the,  Russian  ex])lorers  to  warrant  the  belief  in  a 
"wide  immeasural)le  ocean."  The  rising  vapor,  so 
often  mentioned  by  Anjou,  is  caused  by  tidal  cracks 
in  tlie  ice,  and  is  no  proof  of  an  open  sea ;  and  the 
phenomena  of  damp  winds  and  rotten  ice  ])etoken 
just  what  Anj<tu  saw — a  limited  ex2)anse  of  sea, 
covered  ^v•ith  drifting  floes.  There  is  no  evidence 
whati!ver  that  the  Siberian  Polynia  ^f  the  early  sjjring 
is  of  greater  extent  th'^u  ihe  prevalence  of  gales  of 
wind  and  currents  wo'd"'  easily  explain. 


^■VWHJI'IIW!!); 


THE   EXPLOPATION   OF  THE   YENISEI. 


675 


The  latest  lliissi  i  exj)lorii)g  acliievcineut  in 
Siberia  lias  Ix'eu  the  examinati'm,  in  ISOd,  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Yenisei,  by  Ilerr  Schmidt,  made  in  con- 
sequence of  the  alleged  discovery  of  a  mammoth 
skeleton  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lower  Yenisei  Uivcr. 
An  interesting  fact  in  connection  witli  this  river,  is 
the  immense  ([uantity  of  drift-wood  lying  on  either 
side  of  its  banks.  About  the  low  lands  of  tlic  rstuarv 
the  wood  lies  scattei'ed  al)out,  and,  mixed  with  loam 
and  sand,  foi-nis  the  chief  component  of  the  numerous 
islands  studded  about  the  mouth.  In  many  j)laces 
peat-moss  is  to  l)e  found,  and  stems  oi  trees,  which 
prove  that  vegetation  formerly  spread  further  north 
tlian  now.  Here,  as  well  as  in  most  parts  of  Sil)eria, 
the  larch  {Larix  Siblrica^  marks  the  commenrement  of 
forest  gi'owth. 


1- 


I 

*    I 

■ 


V': 


CHAPTER  XL. 
TRAVELS  IN  ALASKA. 

The  territory  of  Alaska,  piircliased  by  tlie  United 
States  in  1867,  is  a  wide  and  interesting  field  for  dis- 
covery. Visited  occasionally  for  two  centuries  by 
navigators  and  traders,  little  more  was  kno\vn  of  it 
in  the  civilized  world  than  the  outline  of  its  coast ; 
but  its  annexation  to  our  country  has  turned  our 
attention  to  it,  and  caused  more  accurate  details  of  its 
characteristics  and  resources  to  be  brought  within 
our  reach. 

This  vast  domain,  for  which  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment received  some  seven  million  dollars,  contains 
500,000  square  miles,  a  large  proportion  of  which  is 
uninhabited  and  uninhabitable.  The  southern  part 
is  peopled  by  Esquimaux,  Indians  aiid  Russians, 
and  has  natural  productions  of  much  value.  Its  for- 
ests and  mineral  wealth  are  much  like  those  of  the 
neighboring  British  territory.  There  are  im]iortant 
cod-tisheries  along  various  portions  of  the  coast ;  and 
salmon  al)ound  in  all  the  rivers.  The  fur-trade  has 
always  been  great,  and  if  protected  by  ])roper  laws 
may  continue  to  be  a  source  of  wealth  to  its  owners. 

The  Aleutian  Islands  comprise  a  valuable  })orti(m 
of  the  Alaskan  ]>urchase,  and  besides  some  commei'cial 
importance  have  many  points  of  interest,  including 


SB 


npill,!|lliiiy||ii<li|irjiji 


TltAVKI.INi;    IN    KAMCHATKA, 


A' 


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■.■•7r6j:%-:'-=-3«3Ct",  .-_'.-  ■   TUMMyWWW^  - 


TRAVELS   m   ALASKA. 


677 


geysers,  hot  springs,  and  volcanoes.  Tlio  imtivcs  liave 
a  curious  way  of  capturing  whales,  'i'lu  y  Muround 
one  with  boats,  and  throw  into  hhn  so  many  liarjjoons 
to  wliich  ])ladders  filled  with  air  are  attach(>d,  that  he 
is  obliged  to  float  on  the  surface,  and  is  then  easily 
killed  Avith  lances. 

Much  of  our  information  respecting  tlie  interior  of 
Alaska,  was  gained  by  AVilliani  II.  Dall  and  Frederick 
Whymper,  Avho  traveled  there  in  ISOO,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Western  Union  Telegraj)]!  Comjiany. 
The  object  of  the  exploration  was  to  find  a  suitable 
route  for  a  telegraph  line  from  IJering's  Strait  to 
San  Francisco,  wliich  was  to  be  a  jiart  of  an  inter- 
continental line,  in  case  the  Atlantic  cables  should 
fail. 

The  Yukon  River  which  the  explorers  ascended 
six  hundred  miles,  is  one  of  the  greatest  streams  in 
the  worhl.  The  Amazon,  the  ]\Iississij>pi,  and  per- 
hajis  the  La  Plata,  alone  surpass  it.  For  a  distance 
of  seventeen  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  its  aver- 
age width  is  more  than  a  mile,  and  v.liile  it  courses 
through  the  centre  of  Alaska,  it  rises  far  to  the  south 
in  British  America,  near  the  sources  of  the  Mac- 
kenzie. The  larger  portion  of  it  is  frozen  over  during 
eight  months  of  the  year,  but  in  summer  it  is  navi- 
gable far  above  Fort  Yukon.  Its  course  in  Alaska 
is  mainly  toward  the  west,  but  at  Nulato,  the  most 
northernly  trading-] lost  of  the  Russians,  it  turns  and 
flows  toward  the  south,  and  falls  into  the  sea  just 
south  of  Norton's  Sound. 

Mr.  AVhym])er  was  accom])anied  by  five  m  hite  men 
and  three  Indians.  They  were  e(iuii)ped  with  four 
sledges  and  twenty  dogs.  These  dogs  were  not  of 
the  best  kind,  but  had  many  characteristics  of  the 


I' 
I 


' 


678 


UP  THE   YUKON. 


\ 


I 


wolf.  Their  food  was  mostly  fish,  but  they  would 
eat  anything  that  afforded  nutriment. 

The  party  started  from  Unalachleet  on  Norton's 
Sound,  soon  after  the  late  sunrise  of  Oct.  27th.  The 
temperature  was  2'^  above  zero;  but  the  snow  was 
still  loose,  and  the  rivers  not  yet  thickly  frozen,  so 
that  their  progress  at  first  was  slow  and  tedious. 

At  noon  on  Nov.  11th,  after  an  overland  journey 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  they  saw  before 
them  a  broad  and  level  expanse  of  snow,  which 
marked  their  arrival  at  the  Yukon  River.  Reaching 
soon  after  the  Indian  village  of  Coltog,  they  rested 
there  two  days.  The  houses  of  tliis  vilhige  were 
underground,  with  an  entrance  by  a  short  shaft  and 
tunnel.  In  the  roof,  which  was  arched  al)ove  ground, 
was  the  only  other  opening — a  hole  for  the  escape  of 
smoke  from  the  fire.  The  dogs  enjoyed  the  warmth 
of  the  dome,  and  sometimes  fell  through  to  the  fire 
below.  When  the  fire  was  burnt  out,  and  the 
smoke-hole  was  covered  with  a  skin,  in  oi-der  to  re- 
tain the  heat,  there  -was  no  ventilation  and  the  scents 
were  manifold  and  abominable. 

The  party  set  out  again  on  the  lltli.  The  river 
wound  about  so  much  that  they  crossed  it  several 
times  to  escape  long  curves.  Their  \v:\y  was  greatly 
obstructed  by  masses  of  ice  rising  in  invgular  heaps; 
but  even  this  track  was  preferable  to  that  on  land, 
for  in  the  forests  the  dogs  would  constantly  run  the 
sledge  against  stnni]is,  and  Avait  for  the  men  to  free  it, 
and  indest'i'iiding  hills  the  sledge  would  overtake  the 
dogs,  tangle  theii"  harness,  and  run  ovei-  them. 

After  a  day's  journey  of  twenty-five  miles,  the  trav- 
elers encamped  in  an  empty  Indian  house.  They 
ai'ose  early  the  next  morning,  and  after  going  on  some 


".1  t^^r-j?V^'*f'^^^''^' '  *'  i^  fw-*^--" 


:i;  ''1 


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m 

:     a 

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. 

ijifi-  si 

BffiKJ     1 

|H= 

pff  I, 

V 


TRAVELS   IN   ALASKA. 


679 


seven  miles,  met  a  train  of  sledges  with  Rus^ians  and 
Indians,  avIio,  turning  back,  went  with  theiu  to  Nuhito. 
Here  their  quarters  were  clean  and  coin2)aratively 
comfortaljle.  The  trading-post  is  on  the  north  hank 
of  the  Yukon,  on  a  flat  stretch  of  land,  at  the  mouth 
of  a  considerable  tributary.  There  are  large  trees  for 
building  purposes,  a  rich  soil,  and  in  the  short  sunnuer, 
luxuriant  grass  and  innumerable  l>erries.  Water  is 
brousjht  on  a  sledije  from  a  hole  in  tiie  ice  of  the  riv- 

O  CD 

er  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  post ;  and  l)y  wicker- 
baskets  let  down  in  the  water  through  the  ice,  large 
quantities  of  iish  are  caught. 

The  coldest  day  was  December  oth  when  the 
thermometer  stood  at  5S'^  below  zero.  Yet  the  men 
did  not  feel  the  severity  cf  cold,  for  the  Avind  did  not 
blow;  whereas  a  slight  wind,  when  the  temperature 
was  only  a  few  degrees  below  zero,  seemed  to  search 
out  every  little  seam  or  tear  in  their  clothing,  and 
cause  special  suffering  to  "nose,  ears,  and  angles 
generally."  The  shortest  day,  Decemlxu"  21st,  enjoyed 
only  an  hour  and  fifty  minutes  of  sunlight.  Christ- 
mas was  celebrated  with  such  a  feast  as  the  circum- 
stances allowed.  Fine  Auroral  lights,  the  sports  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  trading,  and  amateur  theatricals, 
diversified  the  winter  sojourn  at  Nulato. 

Early  in  April  indication  of  sununer  were  seen. 
On  the  Oth  flies  appeared;  on  the  10th  the  Avillows 
were  seen  budding;  on  the  SiSth  tlie  first  goose 
arrived  from  the  south.  The  ri\er  hegan  to  thaw 
May  5th,  and  broke  up  ou  the  I'Jth;  masses  of  ice 
rushed  past  for  several  days,  and  on  the  24th  the 
stream  was  mostly  clear.  The  Russians  were  now 
ready  for  a  trip  to  an  Indian  trading-place  two  hun- 
di-ed   and  forty  miles  up  the  stream.    They  had  a 


'¥. 


I 


;i'4 


680 


A   WINTER   AT   NULATO. 


large  skin  boat,  fitted  with  rudder  and  sails,  and 
capable  of  carrying  two  tons  of  goods  and  jjrovisions. 
The  Americans  accompanied  them  with  a  smaller 
1)oat  and  a  cargo  of  about  seven  hundred  pounds. 
These  vessels  would  recover  from  a  collision  with 
snags  or  ice  which  would  sink  vessels  made  of  bark. 

The  summer  came  on  apace.  Ice  lingered  in  the 
river  till  May  27th,  but  on  June  5  th,  the  thermome- 
ter at  noon  stood  at  80''  in  the  shade,  and  the  heat 
compelled  the  men  to  lie  by  for  a  time. 

At  the  Indian  village  referred  to,  the  Kussians 
stopped,  and  Mr.  Whymper's  party  presently  jour- 
neyed on.  Moose  hunting  was  common  in  portions  of 
the  river.  The  days  were  extremely  long,  and  there 
was  no  light  but  the  twilight.  Fort  Yukon  was 
reached  on  June  23d,  the  party  having  traveled  six 
hundred  miles  in  twenty-nine  days.  The  Fort  is  a 
trading-post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  who  buy 
the  privilege  of  holding  it  within  the  l^ounds  of  vVlaska. 
The  most  striking  scene  at  this  place  is  the  fur-room, 
in  which  can  be  seen  thousands  of  marten-skins  hang- 
ing from  the  beams,  and  huge  piles  of  common  furs. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  the  party  began  to  descend  the 
river.  The  current  bore  them  on  at  the  rate  of  a 
hundred  miles  a  day.  They  landed  only  two  or 
three  times  a  day  to  prepare  their  tea  and  fish,  and 
making  six  hundred  miles  in  about  six  days, 
arrived  at  Nuluto.  Here,  receiving  orders  to  return 
to  St.  Michael,  they  Avent  on  down  the  river.  The 
region  beloAV  Nulato  is  poorer  in  vegetation  and  is 
seldom  visited  by  travelers.  The  northern  or  Aphoon 
mouth  is  the  easiest  navigated,  and  through  it  the 
travelers  reached  the  sea,  having  come  from  Fort 
Yukon  thirteen  hundred  miles  in  fifteen  and  a  half 


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TRAVELS   IN   ALASKA. 


681 


days.     Two  days  more  of  sailin.<T  brought  tliem  to 
St.  Michael. 

The  Co-Yukon  Indians  living  near  the  Yukon 
above  Nulato,  are  more  savage  than  most  tribes,  and 
lightly  value'  human  life.  Tombs  at  Nulato  still 
mark  the  nuissacre  of  forty  Indians  and  part  of  the 
guard  in  1851.  The  dead  are  inten-ed  in  ()])long 
boxes  raised  on  posts,  and  are  moni-ned  by  the  women 
for  a  year.  The  people  superstitious] y  save  bones  of 
animals,  thinking  that  if  they  were  given  to  the  dogs 
or  burned,  their  fishing  and  hunting  could  not  be 
successful.  They  catch  reindeer  by  driving  them  into 
an  enclosure,  whose  sides  are  made  of  stakes  ^vith 
loops  between  them,  where  they  are  shot.  Intemper- 
ance is  almost  unknown  among  these  Indians.  They 
barter  furs  for  porcelain  beads,  combs,  looking-glasses 
and  knives.  In  the  spring  they  all  wear  wooden 
goggles  when  hunting  or  traveling,  to  shield  their 
eyes  from  the  blinding  glare  of  the  snow ;  narrow 
slits  before  the  eyes  give  sufficient  light  for  sight. 

The  Co-Yukon  dialect  has  no  resemblance  to  the 
language  s]K)ken  at  the  coast,  but  resembles  that  of 
some  of  the  tribes  of  northeastern  Asia,  where  these 
Indians  probaldy  originated.  The  Yukon  tiibes  are 
more  nearly  allied  to  the  true  North  American  Indian. 

Sitka,  or  New  Archangel,  the  capital  of  Alaska,  is 
8ituate<l  on  an  island  discovered  in  1741  by  Tschiri- 
kofl',  the  companion  of  Bering.  Formerly  it  was 
exclusively  the  head-quarters  of  the  Russian  American 
Fur  Company,  and  the  residence  of  the  governor,  who 
was  the  autocrat  of  all  the  Russians  in  America.  It 
is  now  a  town  of  considerable  importance. 


f 


CHAPTER  XU. 
DR.  HAYES'  EXPEDinOK 

The  name  of  Dr.  Isaac  I.  Hayes  is  already  familiar 
to  the  reader  and  to  his  countrymen.  A  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  immediately  after  his  graduation  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
one,  he  joined  the  Second  Expedition  of  Dr.  Kane  as 
surgeon  and  naturalist.  Of  the  important  services 
which  he  rendered  this  expedition,  Dr.  Kane  has  left 
ample  testimony.  The  two  men  warmly  sympathized, 
and  by  sharing  each  others  trials  and  labors  light- 
ened their  mutual  burdens.  AVhen  by  mutual  con- 
sent, a  portion  of  the  crew  of  the  Advance  left  that 
vessel  to  attempt  to  reach  the  Da.;ish  settlements  of 
Lower  Greenland,  Dr.  Hayes  led  the  withdrawing 
party,  which  was  obliged  to  return  to  the  brig  after 
penetrating  some  distance  southward. 

Undaunted  by  the  perils  and  hardships  of  his 
first  voyage,  or  by  the  untimely  death  of  his  late 
commander.  Dr.  Hayes  was  full  of  zeal  for  another 
expedition.  His  faith  was  strong  that  he  could  live 
in  the  Polar  regions  as  well  as  the  Esquimaux,  and 
could  even  penetrate  to  the  North  Pole.  It  Avas  diffi- 
cult to  inspire  others  with  the  same  zeal  and  faith. 
His  friends  und  the  public  generally,  received  his 
propositions  coolly.    The  game  did  not  seem  worthy 

682 


imiliar 
ive  of 
at  tLe 
iventy- 
ane  as 
ervices 
as  left 
thized, 
,  light- 
al  con- 
ft  that 
juts  of 
rawing 
g  after 

of  his 
lis  late 
mother 
Id  live 
IX,  and 
as  difli- 
1  faith, 
ed  his 
worthy 


i 


HAYES     EXPEDITIOIf. 


G83 


ms\ 


of  the  chase.  The  many  lives  already  lost,  the  many 
sufferings  endured,  and  the  vast  property  sacrificed  in 
the  Arctic  Seas  without  commensurate  results,  \vere 
certahdy  not  encouraging  for  future  o])erations. 

Not  so  thought  the  doctor.  After  liaving  experi- 
enced tlie  rigors  of  the  Frigid  Zone  for  two  long 
winters,  lie  was  satisfied  that  white  men  could  live 
there  permanently,  relying  solely  on  tlie  supplies  which 
the  country  furnished  for  sup[»ort.  Ilis  faith  and 
perseverance!  were  finally  crowned  with  such  a  degree 
of  success  that  his  friends,  after  five  years  of  imj)ortu- 
nity,  fitted  him  out  with  a  snuill  schooner,  which  he 
may  be  said  to  have  argued  into  being;  for  he  went 
around  the  countiy  lecturing  on  his  favorite  proiject 
and  wt)uld  not  be  denied. 

The  schooner,  Spring  Hill,  was  at  length  purchased, 
her  name  changed  to  "  United  States  "  and  Dr.  Hayes 
])laced  in  conunand.  The  plan  of  the  expedition  was 
his  own,  and  may  be  best  stated  in  his  own  words: 
"My  object  was  to  complete  the  survey  of  the  north 
coasts  of  Greeidand,  and  to  make  such  exi)lorations  as 
I  might  find  i)racticable  in  the  direction  of  the  Xorth 
Pole." 

Full  of  hope  and  in  the  highest  spirits,  Dr.  Hayes 
and  his  littlj  i)arty  set  sail  from  Boston,  July  7th, 
18(30,  steering  directly  for  the  outer  capes  of  New- 
foundland, and  so  prosperous  was  the  voyage  that 
tlie  "  United  States"  reached  the  bold  promontory  of 
Swarte  Tluk  within  the  Arctic  Circle,  Aug.  2d.  Here 
she  was  becalmed  ;  and  Dr.  Hayes'  graphic  pen  gives 
this  beautiful  description  of  the  scene  here  witnessed : — 

"The  air  was  warm,  almost  as  a  summer's  night  at 
home,  and  yet  there  Avere  the  icebergs  and  the  bleak 
mountains  with  which  the  fancy,  in  this  land  of  green 


684 


hates'  expedition. 


hills  and  waving  forests,  can  associate  nothing  but 
cold  repulsiveness.  The  sky  was  bright  and  soft,  and 
strangely  inspiring  as  the  skies  of  Italy.  The  bergs 
had  wholly  lost  their  chilly  aspect,  and  glittering  in 
the  blaze  of  tlie  brilliant  heavens,  seemed  in  the  dis- 
tance like  masses  of  burnished  metal  or  solid  flame. 
Nearer  at  hand,  they  were  huge  blocks  of  Parian 
marble,  inlaid  with  mammoth  gems  of  pearl  and  opal. 
One  in  particular  exhibited  the  perfection  of  the 
grand.  Its  form  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  Coli- 
seum, and  it  lay  so  far  away  that  half  its  height  was 
buried  beneath  the  line  of  blood-red  waters.  The  sun, 
slowly  rolling  along  the  ht)rizon,  passed  behind  it, 
and  it  seenuid  as  if  the  old  Roman  ruin  had  suddenly 
taken  fire." 

After  several  narrow  escapes  from  nips  and  icebergs, 
the  "  United  States,"  was  compelled  to  take  up  her 
winter-quarters  at  Port  Foulke  on  the  Greenland 
coast,  about  twenty  miles  south  of  Rensselaer  Harbor. 
The  neighborhood  abounded  with  game,  and  to  this 
fact  and  to  the  great  good  cheer  which  i-eigned  on 
the  schooner,  the  crew  were  indebted  for  the  uniform 
good  health  which  they  enjoyed  during  the  winter. 
The  dogs  were  not  so  fortunate.  These  pined  away 
and  died  during  the  long  night  as  they  did  on  Kane's 
expedition.  Dogs  have  not  the  consolations  of  hope, 
and  cannot  endure  the  artificial  life  of  ship-board  as 
well  as  men. 

Fortunately  the  Esquimaux  were  able  to  furnish  some 
fresli  dog  teams,  and  early  in  April,  1861,  Dr.  Hayes 
started  out  into  the  icy  wilderness.  The  Greenland 
shore  proving  j»erfectly  impassable,  he  resolved  to 
cross  over  the  sound  to  Grinnell  Land  and  try  to 
ascend  that  coast.     Of  the  difficulties  encountered  no 


hates'  expedition. 


685 


one  unacquainted  with  Arctic  travel  can  foi-ra  any 
adequate  idea.  They  were  enough  to  appall  and  dis- 
courage at  the  start  even  the  strongest  and  most  reso- 
lute of  travelers. 

After  toiling  on  for  twenty-five  days,  Hayes  found 
that  he  was  not  half  way  over  the  sound  and  that 
his  men  were  breaking  down  from  fatigue.  Selecting 
therefore  three  of  the  most  robust  and  courageous, 
Jensen,  McDonald  and  KnoiT,  he  sent  the  remainder 
back  to  the  schooner,  and  with  these  and  fourteen 
dogs,  he  boldly  piessed  on  to  Grinnell  Land,  which 
he  reached  in  fourteen  days. 

The  journey  along  the  coast  was  little  less  fatigu- 
ing, and  he  had  advanced  only  five  days  when  Jensen, 
the  strongest  man  in  the  party,  gave  out  utterly 
exhausted.  Leaving  him  in  charge  of  McDonald,  Dr. 
Hayes  pushed  on  with  Knorr  for  his  only  companion, 
and,  May  18th,  reached  a  deep  l)ay  Avhere  rotten  ice 
and  wide  seams  put  a  veto  to  further  progress.  He 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  bay  Mount  Parry,  and  farther  on  Cape  Union 
— then  the  most  northern  known  land.  The  return 
to  Port  Foulke  was  safely  accomplished. 

The  schooner  having  l)een  released  from  the  ice.  Dr. 
Hayes  made  an  effort,  July  12tli,  to  sail  across  to  Grin- 
nell Land;  but  finding  his  little  vessel  too  crippled  to 
force  her  way  through  the  pack  ice,  he  was  compelled 
to  head  her  for  home,  where  lie  arrived  in  October. 

Dr.  Hayes  subsequently  published  a  very  interest- 
ing history  of  his  expedition  in  a  book  called  "The 
Open  Polar  Sea."  He  has  still  faith  that  there  is 
such  a  sea,  and  that  it  can  be  navigated.  No  man 
living  is  better  qualified  to  lead  the  way  thither. 
39 


11 
'I  I 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
CAPTAIN  HALL'S  FIRST  TWO  EXPEDITIONS. 

Charles  Francis  Hall  whose  life  of  adventures 
and  self-denial  has  closed  under  circumstances  which 
command  for  him  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of 
his  countrymen,  was  a  native  of  New  England,  born  in 
1821.  lie  received  but  a  limited  education,  learned 
the  trade  of  a  blacksmith,  and  followed  that  business 
for  several  years.  Subsequently  he  migrated  to  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  where  he  appears  to  have  engaged  in 
various  pursuits.  He  had  a  taste  for  scientific  study 
and  inventions,  and  was  at  one  time  greatly  interested 
in  caloric  engines.  Engaging  in  the  manufacture  of 
engraved  seals  he  acquired  skill  as  an  engraver  and 
draughtsman.  Connected  with  this  business  he  dealt 
in  stationery,  and  published  an  advertising  sheet 
called  "  2he  Occasional^  From  his  experience  in 
this  incipient  journalism  he  was  endjoldened  to  stait 
"  The  Penny  Press^''  which  under  his  successors  ac- 
quired a  large  circulation. 

The  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin  was  about  this  time 
exciting  the  interest  of  the  world,  and  the  subject  of 
Arctic  discovery  next  absorbed  Hall's  attention.  He 
carefully  watched  all  the  various  expeditions  sent  out 
for  Franklin's  relief,  and  finally  felt  a  desire  to  join 
in  the  search.     With  this  object  in  view  he  began  to 

686 


HALLS   FIRST   EXPEDITION. 


687 


fit  himself  for  a  life  in  the  Frozen  Zone,  by  sleeping 
under  a  tant  at  Mount  Adams  during  the  winter 
montha 

The  tidings  brought  by  McClintock  led  Hall  to 
believe  that  some  of  Fi'anklin's  men  were  still  alive 
and  could  be  found ;  and  it  seemed  to  liim  as  if  he 
was  "  called "  to  try  and  do  the  work.  So  he  deci- 
ded to  do  it.  After  laying  his  plans  before  his  Cin- 
cinnati friends,  he  went  to  New  York,  interested 
Mr.  Grinnell  in  his  scheme,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Geographical  Society,  introduced  himself  as  a  man 
who  "  wanted  to  go  and  find  the  bones  of  Sir  John 
Franklin." 

Mr.  Hall  was  not  in  any  sense  of  the  word  a  schol- 
ar, nor  was  he  a  navigator;  he  was  a  plain  unobtru- 
sive man,  and  measured  by  the  current  conventional- 
isms, would  have  made  a  poor  figure  in  a  company  of 
gentlemen.  But  he  was  endowed  with  a  physical 
constitution  of  exceptional  vigor  and  endurance ;  able 
to  meet  all  conditions  of  life,  whether  among  people 
civilized  or  savage ;  and  possessed  of  a  vast  deal  of 
patience,  good  nature,  and  kindness  of  heart. 

His  first  expedition  north  was  a  singularly  modest 
one,  and  its  plan  was  unique.  He  did  not  propose  to 
break  through  the  ice  of  unknown  frozen  seas ;  but  to 
be  set  down  alone  on  the  shores  contiguous  to  the 
waters  where  Avhales  are  found,  and  thence,  wdth 
Esquimaux  guides,  to  find  his  way  to  King  William's 
Land,  where  he  believed,  among  a  people  so  primitive, 
the  traditions  of  Franklin's  fate  would  certainly  sur- 
vive. 

Various  articles  of  outfit  and  about  one  thousand 
dollars  were  donated  by  friends  of  the  undertaking ; 
Williams  and  Havens  of  New  London  offered  to 


688 


hall's  first  expxdition. 


transpoi  c  the  traveler  and  his  outfit  free  of  charge  in 
one  of  their  wlmling-ships ;  and  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1800,  Hall  Willed  in  the  "  George  Henry,"  commanded 
by  Capt.  S.  O.  Buddington  and  bound  for  the  Arctic 
wllialing-grounds.  A  Hmall  schooner,  the  "A  i.  lit," 
formerly  the  "Rescue"  of  Kane's  fir"t  expedition, 
sailed  with  the  George  Henry  as  a  tender.  An  Esqui- 
maux named  Kudlago,  who  had  come  to  the  United 
States  with  Buddington,  and  on  whom  Hall  greatly 
relied  for  assistance,  died  on  his  passage  home ;  his 
last  words  were  "  Do  you  see  ice  ? " 

After  touching  at  Holsteinberg,  Greenland,  Bud- 
dington crossed  Davis'  Strait,  and  on  the  17t?)  of 
August,  anchored  his  vessel  in  a  small  bay  just  north 
of  the  entrance  to  Frobisher's  Bay.  Here  and  in  this 
neighborhood  the  whalers  commenced  operations,  and 
Hall  began  his  acquaintance  with  the  natives  who 
were  scattered  along  the  coast  On  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, Capt.  Tyson  arrived  in  the  Georgiana,  and 
Hall  relates  instances  of  the  kind  and  unselfish  dis- 
position which  he  manifested,  while  competing  with 
Buddington's  men  in  catching  whales.  Soon  after- 
ward a  fearful  gale  came  on,  during  which  the  Rescue 
was  wrecked  ;  the  Georgiana  was  driven  ashore  and 
narrowly  escaped ;  and  a  large  whale-boat  belonging 
to  Hall,  in  which  he  expected  to  make  long  trips,  was 
destroyed.  The  George  Henry  escaped,  but  was  wreck- 
ed on  her  next  voyage  about  two  years  later. 

In  November,  Hall  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Ebierbing,  a  noted  hunter  und  pilot,  and  Tookoolito 
his  wife.  They  were  of  the  Esquimaux  or  "Innuit" 
aristocracy,  had  visited  England,  could  speak  the 
English  language,  and  the  lady's  voice  was  "  low  and 
sweet."    They  became  attached  to  Hall,   were  his 


hall's  first  expedition. 


689 


constant  guides  ii»"l  compfinions,  went  with  him  to 
the  United  States  on  his  return,  ncconiivmicd  him  in 
his  subsequent  jounuys,  nud  are  now  l)Mtt'r  known 
as  "Joe  "  and  "  »  annali." 

The  George  Henry  remained  safely  in  lier  quarters 
through  the  winter,  ah. I  was  not  released  from  her  icy 
fetters  till  the  I7th  of  July,  1861;  ])ut  even  then, 
intervening  ice  prevented  Buddington  fiom  reaching 
open  water  where  he  wished  to  cruine  for  u  hales. 

Meantime  Hall  had  been  much  ashoi-e,  makinir 
short  journeys  along  the  coast  and  living  in  the  huts 
of  the  natives  to  ac«[uire  their  language  and  hal)its  of 
life.  He  now  planned  a  longer  trip,  and  on  the  9th  of 
August,  left  the  George  Henry  in  a  whale-boat  rowed 
by  six  natives  to  explore  Frobisher's  Strait.  He  re- 
turned to  the  ship  on  the  27th  of  September,  and  in 
reply  to  his  first  question, — "How  many  whales  se- 
cured? "  was  informed,  "  Not  one."  Such  is  the  "  fish- 
erman's luck  "  which  sometimes  attends  our  whalers. 

In  this  excursion  Hall  ascertained  that  Frobisher's 
Strait  is  in  fact  a  bay ;  and  it  is  touching  to  see  the 
value  which,  in  the  absence  of  more  important  geo- 
graphical discoveries  he  placed  on  this  achievemenc. 
He  was  also  greatly  elated  at  finding  what  he  sup- 
posed *o  be  relics  of  Frobisher's  Expedition — coal, 
iron,  etc. ;  these  simjde  memorials  not  only  brought 
back  the  presence  of  those  stalwart  and  adventurous 
Englishmen  who  visited  the  "  Jleta  Incognitia  "  three 
hundred  years  before,  but  gave  to  him  a  sense  of  com- 
panionship in  his  lonely  ramblings  over  its  desolate 
wilds.  He  also  found  a  tradition  of  this  early  expe- 
dition alive  among  the  natives.  There  had  been 
handed  down  to  them  the  memory  of  white  men  who 
had  ..orae  in  ships  and  lived  for  a  while  among  them ; 


:l 


|i       ii 


f- 


690 


HALL  8  FIRST  EXPEDITIOK. 


and  this  fact  confirmed  Hall  in  his  impression  of  tlie 
value  of  tradition,  through  which,  in  the  absence  of 
literature,  important  historical  events  like  the  wreck 
of  Franklin's  ships,  were  not  lost  among  them. 

The  researches  of  Ilall  during  this  expedition  were 
confined  to  a  small  extent  of  territory  laying  several 
degrees  Lelow  the  Arctic  Circle ;  but  it  would  be 
unjust  to  estimate  his  services  by  the  limit  of  latitude 
which  he  reached.  His  experiences  enabled  him  to 
become  a  competent  authority  in  matters  pertaining 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  region,  and  he  has  thrown 
much  light  upon  their  customs  and  mode  of  living. 
In  eating  they  are  gluttons  of  tlie  highest  order. 
Hall  seems  to  have  kept  himself  from  their  excesses, 
but  to  have  fully  endorsed  their  tastes,  and  he  is  often 
emphatic  in  eulogizing  their  abominable  dishes. 

Although  the  Innuits  are  kind  and  hospitable  to 
each  othe-'  when  all  are  living  and  well,  they  are  sin- 
gularly stony-hearted  towards  the  sick  and  dying. 
Especially  to  their  women  this  coolness  is  most  nkourn- 
ful.  When  one  of  the  poor  creatures  seems  nigh  to 
death,  they  leave  her  alone  in  one  of  the  snow-Louses, 
putting  near  her  a  few  of  the  articles  which  a\\\  most 
Decessaiy  for  life,  and  then  remain  in  other  houses, 
abstaining  from  labor,  till  the  poor  sufferer  passes 
away.  Hall  tried  to  b?t  the  example  of  Christian 
kindness  to  them  in  caring  for  the  sick ;  but  almost  in 
vain.  The  Esquimaux  are  a  singularly  conservative 
peojde,  and  Avhatever  their  ancestors  ii!d,  they  think 
they  must  do.  To  any  remonstrance  against  their 
habits  they  used  always  to  answer,  "  The  old  Innuits 
did  so ; "  and  that  settled  the  matter. 

Captain  Buddington  intended  to  start  for  home  in 
the  fall  of  1861,  and  all  Avere  greatly  disappointed 


\,* 


HALL'S   SECOND    EXPEDITION. 


691 


when  it  was  found,  very  unexpectedly,  tliat  heavy 
pack  ice  was  already  drifting  down  across  the  entrance 
of  the  bay.  "Our  fate  is  sealed,"  said  Buddington; 
"  another  winter  here ;  we  are  already  imprisoned." 

Another  long  winter  was  passed  by  the  George 
Heniy  and  her  crew  at  Field  Bay.  As  provisions 
were  short  on  the  ship,  portions  of  the  men  were 
quartered  uj)()n  the  natives,  but  generally  found  the 
privations  of  Innuit  life  harder  to  bear  than  a  short 
allowance  of  food  on  the  vessel.  One  man  froze  his 
feet  so  badly  that  Buddington  was  obliged  to  ampu- 
tate his  toes,  which  he  did  skillfully.  Others  of  the 
crew  arrived  at  the  ship  nearly  dead  Avith  hunger. 
One  who  got  lost  was  searched  for  by  Hall  and  Bud- 
dington and  found  dead  on  the  ice. 

On  the  8th  of  the  succeeding  August,  the  George 
Henry  again  floated  fi'ee,  and  the  next  day  started  for 
home.  Hall  was  accompanied  by  his  Es(]uimaux 
friends,  and  th.eir  infant  boy  Tukeliketa  who  died 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  Uiiited  States. 

After  a  stay  of  nearly  two  years  in  his  native  coun- 
try, Captain  Hall  again  started  north,  July  3()th,  18G4, 
to  renew  his  accpiaintance  with  the  lunuits.  With 
Joe  and  Hannah  he  to».k  passage  in  tlie  Monticello, 
Captain  Buddington,  and  the  party  was  landed  on 
the  nortliern  coasts  of  Hudson's  Bay.  Of  his  five 
years'  residence  in  this  region,  little  is  known ; 
although  he  was  most  of  the  time  in  conununication 
with  whalingshlps,  and  received  fi'om  them  such 
suj)j)lies  as  he  needed.  He  ])enetrated  north  as  fiir 
as  Hecla  and  Fury  Strait  visited  King  William's 
Land,  and  returne(l  to  the  United  States  in  1800.      - 

In  a  letter  to  Henry  Grinnell  written  at  Bepulse 
Bay,  June  '20th,  180'.),  Captain  Hall  gives  the  follow- 


'J 


1 1- 


r 


692 


hall's   second   EXPEDITION". 


ing  account  of  his  journeys  and  the  results  of  his 
search  for  Franklin : — 

"  This  day  I  have  returned  from  a  sledf^e  journey  of  ninety 
days  to  and  from  King  William's  Land.  It  was  my  pui-pose, 
and  every  preparation  was  made,  to  make  this  journey  last 
season,  but  my  attention  then  having  been  called  to  ^Melville 
Peninsula,  in  the  vicinity  of  Fury  and  Ilecla  Straits,  where 
native  report  had  it  that  white  men  had  been  seen,  I  directed 
my  expedition  there,  by  way  of  Am-i-toke,  Oog-lik  Isle,  Ig- 
loo-lik,  with  the  ardent  liopo  and  expectation  of  rescuing 
alive  some  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  lost  conipatiions.  The 
result  of  the  journey  was  the  finding  of  the  tcnting-place  of 
a  few  white  men, and  a  stone  pillar  they  had  erected  close  by 
it  at  the  bottom  of  Parry  Bay,  which  is  some  fifty  miles  south 
of  the  western  outlet  of  Fury  and  Ilecla  Straits,  and  the  vis- 
iting of  several  places  where  white  men  and  their  traces  had 
been  seen  by  natives  of  Ig-loo-lik  and  vicinity  in  or  about 
the  years  1806-67. 

"  The  result  of  my  sledge  journey  to  King  William's  Land 
may  be  summed  up  thus:  None  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  com- 
panions ever  reached  or  died  on  Montreal  Island.  It  was 
late  in  July,  1848,  that  Crozier  and  his  party,  of  aI)out  forty 
or  forty-five,  passed  down  the  west  "coast  of  King  William's 
Land,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Ilerschcl.  The  party  was  drag- 
ging two  sledges  on  the  sea  ice,  which  was  nearly  in  its  last 
stage  of  dissoliUjion,  one  a  large  sledge  laden  with  an  awning- 
covered  boat,  and  the  other  a  small  one  laden  with  ])rovision8 
and  camp  material.  Just  before  Crozier  and  party  arrived 
at  Cape  Ilerschel  they  were  met  by  four  families  of  natives, 
and  both  parties  went  into  camp  near  each  other.  Two 
Esquimaux  men,  who  wjre  of  the  native  party,  gave  me 
much  sad  but  deeply  interesting  information.  Some  of  it 
stirred  my  heart  with  sadness,  intermingled  with  rage,  for  it 
was  a  confession  that  the}',  with  their  companions,  did 
secretly  and  hastily  abandon  Crozier  and  hi.s  party  to  suflTer 
and  die  for  need  of  fresh  provisions,  when  in  truth  it '  as  in 
their  power  to  save  every  man  alive. 

"  The  next  trace  of  Crozier  and  his  party  is  to  be  found  in 


HALL  S    SECOND   EXPEDITION. 


693 


found  in 


the  skeleton  which  McClintock  discovered  <a  little  helow,  to 
the  southward  and  eastward  of  Cape  UcMscliel.  This  was 
never  found  by  the  natives.  The  next  tiace  is  a  camping- 
place  on  the  sea-shore  of  King  William's  Land,  about  three 
miles  eastward  of  Pfeiffer  Ilivcr,  where  two  mvn  died  and 
received  Christian  burial.  At  this  place  li.sh-hones  were 
found  by  the  natives,  which  showed  that  Crozier  and  his 
party  had  caught,  while  there,  a  species  of  fish  excellent  for 
food,  vi,!!  which  the  sea  there  abounds.  Tlie  next  trace  of 
this  party  occurs  some  five  or  six  .ailes  eastward,  on  a  long, 
low  point  of  King  William's  Land,  wlicre  one  num  died  and 
was  buried.  Then  about  south-south-east,  two  and  a  half 
miles  farther,  the  next  trace  occurs  on  Todd's  Inlet,  west  of 
Point  iriciiardson,  on  some  low  land  that  is  an  island  or  a 
part  of  the  main  land,  as  the  tide  may  be.  Here  the  awning- 
covered  boat  and  the  remains  of  about  thirty  or  thirty -five  of 
Crozier's  ])arty  were  found. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1849,  a  large  tent  was  found  by  some  of 
the  natives  whom  I  saw,  the  floor  of  which  was  completely 
covered  with  the  remains  of  white  men.  Close  by  were  two 
graves.  This  tent  was  a  little  way  inland  from  the  head  of 
Terror  Bay. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1861,  when  the  snow  was  nearly  all  gone, 
an  Esquiujanx  party,  conducted  by  a  native  well  known 
throughout  northern  regions,  found  two  boats,  with  many 
skeletons  in  and  about  them.  One  of  those  boats  had  been 
previously  discovered  by  McClintock ;  the  other  was  Wing 
from  one-quarter  to  one-half  mile  distant,  and  must  have  been 
completely  entombed  in  the  snow  at  the  time  ^[cClintock's 
parties  wero  there,  or  they  most  assuredly  would  have  seen 
it.  In  and  al)Out  this  boat,  l)esides  the  many  skeletons  allud- 
ed to,  were  found  many  relics. 

"The  same  year  that  the  Erebus  and  Terror  wore  abandoned, 
one  of  them  consummated  the  great  Xorth-west  passage,  having 
five  men  aboard.  The  evidence  of  the  exact  nund)er  is  cir- 
cumstantial. Everything  about  this  North-west  passage  ship 
of  Sir  John  Franklin's  expedition,  was  in  complete  order; 
four  boats  were  hanging  high  up  at  the  ship's  sides  and  one 
was  on  the  quarter-deck  j  the  vessel  was  in  its  winter  housing 


■ ; 


694 


HALL  S   SECOND   EXPEDITION. 


of  Bail  or  tent  cloth.  Tliia  vessel  was  fonnd  by  the  Ook-joo- 
lik  natives,  near  O'Reilly  Island,  lat.  68  deg.  30  niin.  north, 
long.  99  deg.  8  min.  west,  early  in  the  spring  of  184l>,  it  being 
frozen  in  the  midst  of  a  smooth  and  unbroken  lloe  of  ice  of 
only  one  winter's  formation. 

"  To  complete  the  history  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  last  expe- 
dition, one  must  spend  a  summer  on  King  Williiinrs  Land, 
with  a  considerable  party,  whose  only  business  bliuiikl  be  to 
make  searches  for  records  which  beyond  doubt  lie  Ituried  on 
that  island.  I  am  certain,  from  what  I  have  heard  the 
natives  say,  and  from  what  I  saw  myself,  that  little  or  nothing 
more  can  be  gained  by  making  searches  there  when  the 
island  is  clothed  in  its  winter  garb,  for  the  Esiniiuiaiix  have 
made  search  after  search,  over  all  the  coast  of  Kin^'  William's 
Land,  on  either  side,  from  its  southern  extreme  up  to  Cape 
Felix,  the  northern  point,  for  anything  and  evcrvthing  that 
belonged  to  the  comi)anions  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  these 
searches  have  been  made  when  the  snow  had  nearly  all  disap- 
peared from  the  land. 

"  My  sledge  coin[mny  from  Repulse  Bay  to  King  William's 
Land  consisted  of  eleven  souls,  all  Efaquimanx.  Although 
they  are  as  unu'nablo  as  eagles  by  nature,  yet  by  their  aid 
alone  I  was  enablud  to  reach  points  othe.  v<  ..e  inaccessible, 
and  when  there  to  gain  uuich  important  information  relative 
to  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  expedition.  1  tMod  hard 
to  accomplish  far  more  tlui'i  1  did,  btit  not  one  of  the  com- 
pany would,  on  any  account  whatever,  consent  to  remain 
with  me  in  that  country  and  make  a  summer  tcurch  over  that 
island,  which,  from  information  I  had  gained  of  the  natives, 
I  had  reason  to  suppose  would  be  rewarded  by  the  discovery 
of  the  whole  of  the  manuscript  records  that  had  accumulated 
in  that  great  expedition,  and  been  deposited  in  a  vault  a  lit- 
tle way  inland  or  eastward  of  Cape  Victory.  Knowing,  as  I 
now  do,  the  character  of  the  Es(juimaux  in  that  ]>art  of  the 
country  in  which  King  William's  Land  is  situated,  I  cannot 
wonder  at  nor  blame  the  Repulse  Bay  luitivcs  for  their  refn- 
eal  to  remain  there,  as  I  desired.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
had  we  renuiined,  as  I  wished,  no  one  of  us  would  ever  have 
got  out  of  the  country  alive,    llow  could  we  expect,  if  we 


HALL  S   SECOND   EXPEDITION. 


695 


had  got  into  straightened  circumstances,  that  we  eliould  have 
received  better  treatment  Irom  tlie  Esquimaux  of  thatcoimtry 
than  the  one  hundred  and  iive  souls  who  were  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  heroic  Crozier,  some  time  after  the  landing  on 
King  William's  Land  ? 

"  Could  I  and  my  party,  with  reasonable  safety,  have 
remained  to  make  a  summer  search  on  King  William's  Land, 
it  is  not  only  probable  that  we  should  have  recovered  the 
logs  and  journals  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  exprditiou,  but  have 
gathered  up  and  entombed  the  remains  of  nearly  one  hundred 
of  his  companions,  for  they  lie  about  the  places  where  the 
three  boats  have  been  found,  and  at  the  large  camping-place 
at  the  head  of  Terror  Bay  and  the  three  other  ])lact'8  that  I 
liave  already  mentioned.  In  the  cove,  Avest  side  of  Point 
Richardson,  however,  Nature  herself  has  opened  her  bosom 
and  given  sepulture  to  the  remains  of  the  immortal  heroes 
that  have  died  there. 

"  Wherever  I  found  that  Sir  John  Franklin's  companions 
had  died  I  erected  mimuments,  then  fired  salutes  and  waved 
tlie  Star-Spangled  Banner  over  them,  in  n)emory  and  respect 
of  the  great  and  true  discoverers  of  the  Xorth-west  passage. 

"  I  could  have  gathered  great  quantities — a  very  great 
variety — of  relies  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  expoditi(jn,  tor  they 
are  now  possessed  by  natives  all  over  the  Arctp  regions  that 
I  visited  or  heard  of,  from  Pond's  Bay  to  Mackenzie  River. 
As  it  was,  I  had  to  be  satisfied  with  taking  upon  our  sledges 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  ]>ouiuls  total  weight  of 
relics  from  natives  about  King  William's  Land." 


i 


CHAPTER  XLni. 
THE  POLARIS  EXPEDITION. 

On  Capt.  Hall's  return  from  liis  second  residence 
among  the  Esquimaux,  lie  wisely  concluded  that  a 
seven  years'  search  for  relics  of  Sir  John  Franklin, 
whose  fate  had  previously  been  pretty  definitely  ascer- 
tained, had  exhausted  that  field  of  Arctic  adventure, 
and  he  tiu'ued  his  attention  to  the  project  of  a  scientific 
expeilition  toward  the  North  Pole  under  Government 
auspices.  His  persistent  efforts  to  arouse  a  national 
interest  in  the  enterprise  were  at  length  successful,  and 
Congress  appropriated  $50,000  for  defraying  the  ex- 
penses of  an  expedition  to  be  sent  out  in  a  go  vernment 
vessel  undsr  his  coihraand. 

Captain  Hall's  plans  of  operation,  as  stated  byliim 
in  a  lecture  given  in  December,  1870,  and  reported  in 
the  New  Yoi'h  World,  were  in  part  as  follows : — 

"Crossing  Baflin's  Bay,  lie  will  go  to  Smith's  Is- 
land, and  from  thence  westward  through  Jones  Sound, 
following  it  for  about  two  hundred  miles  ;  then,  after 
getting  that  distance,  he  will  turn  to  the  north,  and 
go  as  far  as  practicable  before  winter  sets  in,  and 
hopes  to  get  as  far  as  80''.  There  he  \\\\\  Avinter,  and 
in  the  spnng  of  1872,  with  all  his  preparations  com- 
plete, he  will  start  on  a  grand  sledge  journey  to  the 
pole. 


CAPTAIN   HALL  8   PLANS. 


697 


"  He  believes  that  in  sledge  traveling  lie  is  an  adept. 
The  natives  are  very  expert  in  those  matters ;  but  he 
thinks  he  has  improved  somewhat  on  them.  He  has 
gone  through  a  full  course  in  the  Arctic  college,  and 
thinks  he  has  little  to  learn  in  the  matter  of  sledge 
traveling.  This  journey,  he  expects,  "will  occupy  from 
ninety  to  one  hundred  days,  relying  entirely  for  sup- 
port on  the  provisions  obtained  on  the  way.  He  will 
take  with  hiiu  on  this  journey  about  half  of  his  crew, 
leaving  the  rest  to  subsist  on  whales,  seals,  and  wal- 
ruses, or  anything  else  they  can  obtain. 

"  Eveiy  man  in  his  party  will  be  a  picked  man. 
His  sailing  master  has  had  twenty  years'  experience 
in  the  Arctic  Seas,  and  has  full  faith  in  him  and  the 
enterprise.  His  fii"st  and  second  officers  have  each 
had  ten  years'  Arctic  experience. 

"All  of  his  crew  will  be  trained  to  live  as  the 
Esquimaux  do,  and  then  they  can  stand  the  cold ;  but 
they  must  eat  raw  meat,  and  stick  to  train-oil.  He 
(Captain  Hall)  has  eaten  in  one  day  fifteen  jwunds 
of  raw  meat,  washed  down  with  two  and  a  half  pints 
of  train-oil.  While  men  thus  live  they  can  defy  King 
Cold.  A  whale  in  those  regions  is  a  Godsend ;  one 
whale  is  equal  to  600  oxen,  and  affords  the  best  eat- 
ing that  he  has  ever  enjoyed.  In  fact,  he  has  always 
enjoyed  his  food  better  in  the  Arctic  regions  than 
anywhere  else ;  and  even  here  among  civilized  people 
the  old  longing  for  raAV  meat  comes  on  him  so  strong 
sometimes,  that  he  goes  away  to  his  closet  where  no 
one  can  see  him  and  has  a  good  feed  of  raw  meat. 
And  there  is  a  virtue  in  it  which  it  loses  when 
cooked." 

The  steamer  Periwinkle  having  been  designated 
for  the  service,  was   rechristened   the   Polaris — the 


I 


698 


THE   POLARIS   AKD   ITEU   CREW. 


/ 


Latin  word  for  North  Star, — and  under  the  supervision 
of  Capt.  Hull  wj  ited  Tip  at  Washington  in  the  most 
thorotigh  niannt  ,  The  vessel  was  rigged  as  a  top- 
sail schooner  and  her  measurement  was  400  tons. 

The  Polaris  steamed  out  of  New  York  harbor  on 
the  aftemof)n  of  June  29th  1870,  having  on  board  the 
following  persons ; — •     ''-'■'_ 

Cliarlufl  Francis  Flail,  Commander.  Dr.  Gmil  Besscis,  ZoologUt, 

R.  W.  D.  Bryan,  Astronomer  nnd  Chaplain.  F.  Moycr,  Meteorologist. 
■  Sidney  0.  Buddington,  Saiiiiig-maBtcr.  George  E.  Tyson,  Ass't  Navigator. 

Hubbard  C.  Cliostcr,  First  Mate.  Wiiliiim  Morton,  Second  Mate. 

Emil  Schumann,  Chief  Engineer,  A.  A.  Odcll,  Assi»-tant  Engineer. 

W.  F.  Campbell,  John  W.  Booth,  Firemen. 

John  Heron,  StcwArd ;  William  Jackson,  Cook ;  Natimn  J.  Coffin,  Carpenter. 

nermann  Siemons,  Frederick  Auting,  J.  W.  C.  Kruger,  Henry  IIol)by,  Joseph  B. 
Manch,  Oustavua  Linguist,  Peter  Johnson,  William  Ninderaan,  Frederick  Jamka, 
Noah  Hayes,  Seamen. 

Joe,  £s({uimaux  Interpreter  and  Hunter;  Hannah,  Interpreter  and  Seamstress; 
Punna,  adopted  daughter  of  Joe  and  Hannah. 

Dr.  Bessels  was  a  German  savant,  who  had  acquired 
Arctic  experience  in  a  voyage  to  Spitsbergen.  Meyer, 
a  native  of  Prussia,  had  been  detailed  from  the  U.  S. 
Signal-service  liureau  to  accompany  the  expedition. 
Morton  was  well  known  as  the  discoverer  of  the 
"  Open  Polar  sea ; "  he  accompanied  Kane  on  his  two 
Arctic  voyages,  and  was  with  him  in  Havana  at  the 
time  of  liis  death. 

Cai)tain  Buddington,  was  a  sailor  of  great  experi- 
ence having  followed  the  sea  from  boyhood.  At  the 
age  of  thirteen  he  acted  as  cook  on  a  fishing  smack  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  afterwards  he  caught  mackerel, 
and  cod-fish  in  more  eastern  waters,  and  while  yet  a 
boy  went  on  a  whaling  ship  to  the  Southern  Pacific. 
When  the  ship  was  ready  to  go  home,  he  joined  an 
empty  whaler  which  had  just  come  to  the  fishing, 
grounds,  and  returned  as  her  mate,  having  been  absent 
from  home  for  a  period  of  six  years. 


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fllTRTCn   OF   OTTIcmS. 


699 


When  Bn(l<lington  sailed  ngaiii  it  wna  ns  master  of 
a  wlialing  ves;iel,  and  he  had  followed  that  husineaa 
ever  since,  making  eleven  voyagen  to  the  Arctic  seas, 
extending  over  a  period  of  twonty-thveo  years.  He 
commanded  the  "John  Ilenr),"  the  ship  which  gave 
Hall  a  free  passage  outward  ;)nd  liomeward  on  his 
first  journey  to  the  North,  and  had  e\erbeen  on  friend- 
ly terms  with  the  explorer. 

Hall  knew  Rnd<lington  well,  having  spent  much 
time  at  his  home  in  Groton,  C\>nn.,  Avhere  he  was  al- 
ways welcome  as  an  old  friend  of  the  family.  In  his 
pnl)li>*h('d  book  he  speaks  of  him  as  "my  noble 
friend,"  and  relates  several  circnmstances  which  go  to 
show  that  he  considered  Buddington  to  be  what  he 
doubtless  was,  a  brave,  capr'  ' )  and  humane  man,  un- 
8urj)assed  by  any  one  tis  a  safe  Ai-ctic  navigator. 

It  was  these  qualities  which  led  Captain  Hall  to 
select  Buddington  as  navigator  of  the  Polaris.  It  is 
said  that  he  at  fii'st  reluctantly  consented  to  go,  as  he 
had  not  much  interest  in  an  expedition  made,  as  he 
considered,  fen*  no  practical  puii)oses ;  but  the  large 
pay  offered,  costly  presents,  the  promise  of  a  pension 
to  his  wife  in  case  of  his  death,  and  the  chance  for 
fame  if  the  voyage  proved  successfid,  succeeded  in 
fascinating  him,  and  he  sailed  with  the  expedition. 

Captain  Tyson,  too,  was  an  old  whaleman  and  had 
been  on  several  voyages.  lie  had  resided  in  New 
London  since  1853,  and  Ilall  had  tiiere  consulted 
with  him  in  reference  to  his  first  journey  north. 
Soon  afterward  he  sailed  as  master  of  the  Georgiana, 
and  this  ship  and  the  John  Ileniy  anchored  for  a 
while  in  the  same  Greenland  harbor,  where  the 
acquaintance  was  renewed.  When  Tyson  made  his 
first  tri})  to  sea,  Buddington  was  mate  of  the  vessel  in 
which  he  sailed. 


B 


700      BKCEPnON  BY  THE  OEOORAPHIOAL  SOCIETY. 


i' 


Tyson  supplied  Captain  Hall  with  provisions  and 
a  boat  at  licpulse  Bay  in  1865.  He  sailed  in  the 
Polaris  at  the  urgent  request  of  Hall,  without  any 
stated  office,  but  his  appointment  as  assistant  naviga- 
tor was  sent  on  by  the  steamer  Congress  and  reached 
him  at  Disco. 

Joe  and  Hannah  were  the  American  names  of 
Hall's  Esquimaux  fnends  Ebierbing  and  Tookoolito, 
who,  since  their  second  an'ival  in  the  Unit>  d  States, 
had  ])een  living  in  Groton  near  the  residence  of  Cap- 
tain Buddington.  Mr.  Chester,  the  first  mate  of  the 
Polaris — an  enterprising,  reliable,  and  very  capable 
man — was  also  a  resident  of  Groton. 

A  reception  of  Captain  Hall  and  his  officers  by  the 
American  Geographical  Society  of  New  Yoik,  came 
off  at  the  rooms  of  the  society  three  days  before  the 
departure  of  the  Polaris.  An  address  was  made  by 
the  president  of  the  society,  Hon.  Charles  P.  Daly, 
and  Mr.  Henry  Grinnell  presented  a  flag  to  Captain 
Hall,  in  the  following  speech  : — 

"This  is  quite  a  noted  flag,  and  has  seen  peril  by 
sea  and  ice.  In  1838  it  went  with  Wilkes'  expedi- 
tion to  a  higher  latitude  toward  the  Southern  Pole 
than  any  American  flag  ever  went  before.  In  1850 
the  flag  was  presented  to  me  by  Lieu+enant  Walker, 
who  took  it  to  the  Southern  regions,  with  the  request 
that  I  would  loan  it  to  De  Haven.  He  took  it  to  a 
higher  latitude  in  the  Northern  regions  than  any 
other  flag  had  ever  been.  Dr.  Kane  took  it,  with 
another  expedition,  to  a  still  higher  northern  latitude. 
When  Dr.  Hayes  went  on  his  expedition  I  loaned  it 
again  to  him,  and  he  carried  it  about  thirty-seven 
miles  higher  than  an  American  flag  hed  ever  been 
before. 


A   FAMOUS   FLAO. 


701 


*'  Now  I  give  it  to  you,  sir.  Take  it  to  the  North 
Pole,  and  Ijriiig  it  back  a  year  from  next  October." 

Captain  Hall  on  ifceiving  the  flag  said  : — 

"  I  really  feel  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul  that  this 
flag,  in  the  spring  of  1872,  will  flcat  over  a  new 
world ;  a  new  world  ^  in  which  the  North  Pule  star  is 
its  crowning  jewei." 

Captain  Hull  also  made  an  address,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  Arctic  regions  as  his  home,  which  he 
loved  dearly,  among  whose  storms,  winds,  glaciers, 
and  icebergs  he  seemed  to  be  in  an  earthly  heaven  or 
a  heavenly  earth.  lie  said  that  he  had  chosen  his 
own  men,  and  that  they  would  stand  by  him  through 
thick  and  thin  to  the  last  extremity.  lie  gratefully 
acknowledged  the  assistance  which  he  had  received 
while  planning  and  preparing  the  expedition,  and 
complimented  the  41  st  Congress  as  follows: — 

"  I  called  upon  the  congressmen,  republicans  and 
democrats.  The  encouragement  that  I  received  from 
all  was  overwhelming ;  and  I  must  say  to  you  here 
to-night,  speaking  the  truth,  that  never  in  my  life 
did  I  believe  that  there  were  so  many  good — glorious 
good — souls  as  I  found  there  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  You  have  no  idea  of  the  tasks  they 
perform — of  their  incessant  labor." 

The  Polaris  stopped  at  New  London,  left  there  on 
the  3d  of  July,  and  arrived  at  St.  John's,  Newfound- 
land, on  the  11th,  where  the  party  were  hosi)itably 
entertained.  During  their  stay  here  a  reception  and 
banquet  were  given  to  the  officers  at  the  house  of  the 
Governor;  and  the  exi)lorers  left  on  the  10th,  accom- 
panied by  thc!  good  wishes  of  the  inhabitants. 

On  the  27th  of  July  the  Polaris  entered  the  harbor 
of  Fiskernaes,  Greenland,  the  birth-place  of  Hans 
40 


n 


I 


■  i, 


I 


i  !: 


t 


\ 


702 


TIIE   EXPEDITION  AT  TIPERNAVIK. 


Christian,  whose  services  Capt.  Hall  wished  to  secure. 
Hans,  however,  was  not  there,  hut  at  a  settlement 
further  north.  Continuing  on,  the  explorers  reached 
Holsteinberg  on  the  31st,  and  there  met  Captain  Von 
Otter's  Swedish  Arctic  Expedition  which  was  theu 
on  its  way  home. 

Leaving  Holsteinberg  on  the  3d  of  August,  the 
Polaris  anchored  the  next  day  off  the  port  of  God- 
haven  or  Lievely,  on  the  island  of  Disco,  and  there 
awaited  the  arrival  of  the  U.  S.  steamship  Congress, 
wliich  had  been  sent  to  carry  coal  and  provisions  for 
the  use  of  the  expedition. 

While  at  Disco  dissensions  arose  among  some  of 
the  officers  of  the  Polaris  as  to  their  respective  rank 
and  duties ;  but  the  arrival  of  the  Congress  had  a 
salutary  effect,  and  through  the  interference  of  Ct  {ii- 
mander  Davenport  of  that  steamer,  a  good  under- 
standing was  apparently  re-established. 

The  Polaris  left  Godhavn  on  the  17th  of  August, 
amid  thb  cheers  of  the  crew  of  the  Congress,  and  ar- 
rived the  next  day  at  Upernavik  where  she  took  on 
board  Hans  Christian,  the  Esquimaux  who  had  accom- 
panied Drs.  Kane  and  Hayes  in  their  voyages  to  the 
North,  with  his  wife  and  three  children ;  also  some 
dogs,  seal-skins  and  coal.  On  the  2l8t  the  voyage 
north  was  resumed,  and  at  Tessuisak,  which  was 
reached  the  next  day.  Captain  Hall  made  his  last 
adieu  to  the  civilized  world  in  the  following  letter, 
which  reached  its  destination  by  way  of  Copenhagen 
in  just  about  one  year  after  it  was  written.  Notliing 
later  respecting  the  expedition  was  known  by  civilized 
people  until  a.  portion  of  the  crew  were  rescued  from 
the  ice  nearly  two  years  8ub8ec[ueutly,  as  related  in 
next  chapter. 


ss»»»»'~^-= 


HALLS   LETTER   FEOM  TESSUISAK. 


m 


Latitude  73°  21 '10", Longitude  56«>  54' 5^' W.,") 
United  States  Steamship  Polaris, 

ToSSAO    OK   TeSSUISAK,   GltEENLAND,  ( 

August  22(1,  1871. 

Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  report  my  proceedings 
since  the  dates  (August  20th  and  2l8t)  of  ray  last 
communication,  written  at  Upernavik.  It  was 
half -past  eiglit  P.  M.  of  August  21st  when  we  left 
the  harbor  of  Upernavik,  having  on  board  Govern- 
or Elberg,  of  whom  I  made  j^revious  mention,  and 
several  of  his  people,  bound  for  this  place  on  a  vis- 
it. After  steaming  twelve  miles  to  the  northwest  and 
westAvard  we  hauled  up  in  front  of  a  small  island 
settlement  called  King-i-toke,  where  Governor  Elberg 
and  myself,  Avith  a  boat's  crcAv,  went  ashore  to  pur- 
chase dogs,  furs  and  other  re(piisites  for  the  expe- 
dition. I  was  able,  after  considerable  difficulty,  to 
get  eleven  dogs  to  add  to  the  number  already  pos- 
sessed by  the  Polaris.  Having  spent  two  hours  at 
King-i-toke  we  returned  aboard. 

At  one  A.  M.,  August  22d,  we  renewed  our  voyage 
for  Tossac,  making  our  way,  by  the  aid  of  good  na- 
tive pilots,  among  the  numei'ous  reefs,  rocks  and 
islands  with  which  Upernavik  and  vicinity  abound. 
At  half-past  five  A.  M.  of  the  2 2d  we  arrived  at  Tos- 
sac. At  once  I  called  on  Jensen,  and  to  my  astonish- 
ment and  disappointment  found  that  a  mistake  had 
been  made  in  any  one  of  us  expecting  that  his  consent 
could  be  obtained  to  leave  his  home  at  the  present 
time. 

By  the  full  consent  and  co-operation  of  the  govern- 
ment authorities  of  Denmark  resident  in  Greenland, 
I  have  concluded  a  contract  with  Hans  Christian,  by 
which  he  enters  the  service  of  the  United  States  North 


i 


m  - 


in*:: 


:!  i 


704 


hall's   letter   from   TES8UISAK. 


Polar  Expedition  as  dog  driver,  hunter  and  servant. 
The  wife  and  three  children  are  to  accompany  Hans. 
The  prospects  of  the  expedition  are  fine — the  weather 
beautiful,  clear  and  unexceptionally  warm.  Every 
preparation  has  been  made  to  bid  farewell  to  civiliza- 
tion for  several  yeara,  if  need  be,  to  accomplish  our 
purpose.  Our  coal  bunkers  are  not  only  full,  but  we 
have  fully  ten  tons  on  deck,  besides  wood,  planks,  tar 
and  rosin  in  considerable  quantities,  that  can  be  used 
for  steaming  purposes  in  any  emergency.  Never  was 
an  Arctic  expedition  more  completely  fitted  out  than 
this. 

The  progress  of  the  Polaris  so  far  has  been  quite 
favorable,  making  exceedingly  good  passages  from 
port  to  port — first  from  Washington  to  New  York, 
thence  to  New  London;  then  to  St.  John's,  N.  F., and 
thence  to  Greenland.  First  to  Fiskernaes,  then  to  Hoi- 
Steinberg,  thence  to  Godhavn,  Upernavik,  and  this 
port  (Tossac),  the  last  link  binding  us  to  the  land  of 
civilization.  The  actual  steaming  or  sjiiling  time  of 
the  Polaris  from  Washington  to  New  York  Avas  sixty 
hours,  and  from  the  latter  place  to  this — the  most 
northern  civilized  settlement  of  the  world,  unless  there 
be  one  for  us  to  discover  at  or  near  the  North  Pole — 
has  been  twenty  days  seven  hours  and  thirty  minutes. 
There  is  every  reason  to  rejoice  that  ('V(M'ytliing  per- 
taining to  the  expedition,  under  the  rulings  of  High 
Heaven,  is  in  a  far  more  prosperous  and  substantially 
successful  condition  than  even  I  had  hoped  or  prayed 
for.  We  are  making  every  eifort  to  leave  here  to-mor- 
row. I  will  at  the  latest  moment  resume  my  place  in 
continuinc'  this  communicaticm. 

Evening,  August  23d,  1871. — We  did  not  get  under 
way  to-day,  as  expected,  because  a  heavy,  dark  fog 
has  prevailed  all  day,  and  the  same  now  continues. 


HALL'S   GOOD-BYE  TO   CIVILIZATIOIT. 


ro5 


The  venture  of  steaming  out  into  a  sea  of  undefined 
reefs  and  sunken  rocks,  under  the  present  circum- 
stances, could  not  be  undertaken.  The  full  number 
of  dogs  (sixty)  required  for  the  expedition,  is  now 
made  up.  At  the  several  ports  of  Greenland  where 
we  have  8top[)ed  we  have  been  successful  in  obtaining 
proper  food  for  the  dogs. 

Aug.  24:  1  P.  M. — The  fog  continues,  and  we  cannot 
wait  for  its  dispersion,  for  a  longer  delay  will  make 
it  doubtful  of  the  expedition  securing  the  veiy  high 
latitude  I  desire  to  obtain  before  enterinij  into  winter 
quarters.  A  g(K>d  pilot  has  offered  to  do  his  very  best 
in  conducting  the  Polaris  outside  of  the  most  imminent 
danger  of  the  r^efs  and  rocks.  Now,  half-past  one 
P.  M.,  the  anchor  of  the  Polaris  has  Just  been  weighed, 
and  not  again  ^vill  it  go  down  till,  as  I  trust  and  pray, 
a  higher,  a  far  higher  latitude  has  been  attained  than 
ever  before  by  civilized  man.  Governor  Elberg  is 
about  accom[);inying  us  out  of  the  harbor  and  seaAvard. 
He  leaves  us  when  the  pilot  does. 

Governor  Lowertz  Elberg  has  rendered  to  this  ex- 
pedition much  service,  and  long  will  I  remember  him 
for  his  great  kindness.  I  am  sure  you  and  my  coun- 
tiy  will  fully  api)i'eciate  the  hosj)ita]ity  and  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Diinish  officials  in  Greenland  as  relating  to 
our  North  Polar  Expedition. 

Now,  at  a  ([uarter  past  two,  the  Polaris  bids  adieu 
to  civili;iatioii. 

Governor  Mllteig  leaves  lis,  promising  to  take  these 
despatches  b;ick  to  Upernavik  and  to  send  them  to 
our  Minister  at  Copenhagen  by  the  next  ship,  Avhich 
opportunity  may  not  be  until  next  year.     God  be  with 


us.     Yours  ever, 


C.  F.  HALL 


To  Gkokok  M.  Robeson,  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Washington. 


m 


)% 
?? 


i 


M' 


! 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 


ADRIFT  ON  THE  FLOES. 


•  Ox  the  30th  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1873,  as  the  steamei 
Tigress,  of  St.  John's,  Newfouiulhmd,  Avas  steaming 
some  forty  miles  off  the  coast  of  Labrador  on  a  sealing 
expedition,  she  was  hailed,  about  five  o'clock  iii  the 
morning,  by  an  Ej^quimaux,  wlio  padilled  alongside  in 
bis  kyak  and  called  the  attention  of  her  crew  to  a 
group  of  miserable  looking  men,  women,  and  children, 
who  were  adrift  on  an  ice  floe,  near  Avhich,  in  a  dense 
fog,  the  steamer  had  providentially  come. 

The  Tigress  immediately  headed  for  the  castaways, 
her  crew  giving  and  receiving  hearty  cheers  as  they 
drew  near.  Two  boats  were  immediately  sent  off, 
and  the  whole  party  were  soon  on  board  the  steamer, 
where  Capt.  Bartlett  and  his  crew  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  Newfoundland  fishermen  treated  them 
with  much  hospitality  and  kindness, 
;  The  rescued  party  num})ered  ninetct'ii  persons,  ten 
white  men  and  nine  Es<piimaux.  Brictly,  tlieir  story 
was  a  feai-ful  and  thrilling  one.  They  Avere  a  ])oi-tion 
of  the  ofticers  and  crew  of  the  Arctic  steamer  Polaiis, 
and  the  Esquimaux  connected  with  the  Expedition. 
They  were  separated  from  their  steamer  on  the  night 
.  of  Oct,  15th,  during  a  snow  storm  and  a  heavy  gale 
which  had  suddenly  driven  the  vessel  off'  from  the  ice 


e  steamei 
steaming 
.  a  sealing 
L;k  iii  the 
jngside  in 
crew  to  a 
I  children, 
in  a  dense 

castaways, 
rs  as  they 
r  sent  off, 
e  steamer, 
lumdred 
ited  them 

crsons,  ten 
leir  story 
1  a  ])ortion 
er  Tolaris, 
Ixpedition. 
I  the  night 
heavy  gale 
om  the  ice 


o 

z 
> 

r- 
Z 


-I 
X 

n 


o 

in 


I*'   I 


m 


m 


■  /  ft  ■*<  ■   ^     ' 


I 


n 


r 

|4  -; 


5 


ml 


liirM 


i  W' 


i 
\ 

c 

f 
t 
f 

d 
I 

IS 

0 

tl 

er 
P< 

in 
Tl 

h 

co: 
hh 
ap 
th( 
on 
tel 
me 

r 

kn< 
abl 
the 
wei 

wit 


PICKED   UP   BY   TIIK  TIGRESS. 


707 


floe  to  which  she  was  fastened,  leaving  the  pai-ty 
behind  on  tlie  ice.  Not  being  able  to  regain  the  ship 
or  to  reach  the  land,  they  ha<i  remained  on  the  floes 
for  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  days,  duiing  which 
time,  exposed  to  hunger,  and  the  winds,  waves,  and 
frozen  convnilsions  of  an  Arctic  winter,  they  had 
drifted  southerly  some  fifteen  hundred  miles.  Capt. 
Hall  died  on  board  the  Polaris  on  the  8th  day  of 
November,  1871,  and  was  buried  in  a  frozen  grave. 
Of  the  fate  of  the  ship  and  the  balance  of  the  crew 
they  knew  nothing. 

As  the  Tigress  had  not  secured  a  full  complement 
of  seals  she  continued  northward  for  several  days, 
encountering  heavy  drifting  ice,  but  meeting  with 
poor  success  in  catching  seals.  On  the  7tli  of  May  she 
was  headed  south,  and  arrived  at  Bay  Roberts,  a  fish- 
ing port  near  St.  John's,  on  the  9th  of  May. 

Here  the  Tigress  remained  till  the  12th  of  May, 
The  party  went  ashore,  and  were  veiy  kindly  received 
by  the  inhabitants.  Tliey  were  also  visited  by  many 
gentlemen  from  St.  John's,  including  the  ubicpiitous 
correspondent  of  the  Neio  York  Herald^  and  through 
his  enterprise  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  Capt.  Hall 
appeared  in  that  paper  of  May  10th.  The  news  of 
the  disaster  to  the  Arctic  Eirpedition  reached  St.  John's 
on  the  9th  of  May,  and  the  U.  S.  Consul  immediately 
telegraphed  to  Washington,  D.  C,  an  official  announce- 
ment thereof. 

The  inhabitants  of  St.  John's  have  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  dangers  of  the  Arctic  Seas,  and  M^ere 
able  to  understand  the  sufferings  and  privations  which 
the  abandoned  mariners  must  have  endured  ere  they 
were  rescued.  Therefore  the  arrival  of  the  Tigress 
with  the  survivors  was  impatiently  expected  at  that 


i! 


I 


708 


EXCITEMENT  AT  ST.   JOHN  8 


poi-t,  and  no  sooner  had  the  ship  dropped  anchor  in 
the  harbor  on  the  12th,  than  crowds,  putting  off  in 
hoats,  l)esieged  the  decks,  and  overwhelmed  the  stran- 
gers Avith  intense  curiosity  and  toiTents  of  questions 
as  to  tlie  origin  of  their  strange  condition,  and  the 
unparalleled  jiowei's  of  endurance  which  had  brought 
them  triumphantly  through  so  many  stupendous  penla 

But  if  the  excitement  on  board  the  vessel  was  consid- 
erable, the  scene  as  the  boats  approached  the  shore 
was  one  of  wildest  enthusiasm.  It  happened  that 
there  was  ice  in  the  harbor,  which  in  certain  places 
obstructed  their  passage,  and  as  the  boats'  heads  were 
turned  one  way  or  another  to  obtain  an  entrance, 
dense  columns  of  people  of  all  classes  moved  up  and 
down  the  cpiays  lining  the  water  of  the  harbor,  accord- 
ing as  the  course  seemed  to  be  directed  to  one  point 
or  another. 

At  the  landing  an  impetuous  inish  was  made  to 
obtain  a  view  of  the  novel  strangers.  The  Esquimaux 
children  were  carried  through  the  streets  on  the 
shoulders  of  some  of  the  prominent  citizens,  and  the 
whole  party  was  escorted  to  homes  which  had  been 
previously  provided  for  them  by  the  U.  S.  Consul, 
Avho  had  been  instnicted  by  the  Hon.  George  M. 
Robeson,  Secretaiy  of  the  Navy,  to  advance  money 
and  every  requisite  assistance  to  the  long  suffering 
mariners. 

The  rescued  party  consisted  of  the  following  per- 
sons :  Geoi'ge  E.  Tyson,  assistant  navigator ;  Frederick 
Meyer,  meteorologist ;  J.  W.  C.  Kruger,  G.  W.  Lin- 
quist,  Frederick  Auntiny,  Peter  Johnson,  Frederick 
Jamka,  and  William  Linderman,  seamen ;  John  Her- 
ron,  stcAvard ;  William  Jackson,  cook ;  and  the  follow- 
ing Esquimaux :  Joe,  his  mfe  Hannah,  and  his  adopted 


HANS   AND  HIS   FAMILY. 


709 


daughter  Punna ;  Hans  Christian,  his  -wife,  and  his 
children  Augustina,  Tobias,  Lucci,  and  a  l)aby  which 
was  born  on  board  the  Polaris  only  two  months  before 
the  company  parted  from  that  vessel.  This  child  was 
baptized  during  the  stay  of  its  parents  at  St.John's. 

With  the  exception  of  Hans  and  his  interesting 
family,  all  of  these  persons  were  members  of  the  expe- 
dition from  its  start.  Hans,  his  wife,  and  three  chil- 
dren, joined  it  at  Upernavik.  This  is  the  same  Hans 
who  accompanied  Dr.  Kane  on  his  second  expedition, 
diu'ing  the  trying  vicissitudes  of  which  he  acted  well 
his  part.  He  subsequently  went  with  Dr.  Hayes' 
expedition,  and  has  figured  in  Sunday-school  literature 
as  the  devout  Moravian.  When  Dr.  Kane's  party  last 
saw  Hans  he  was  driving  south  with  Shang-hu's  pretty 
daughter  by  his  side,  and  it  is  presumed  that  she  is 
the  present  Mrs.  Hans. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Capt.  Hall  caused  sorrow 
throughout  the  country ;  while  the  meagre  story  of 
the  drift  on  the  ice  excited  deep  and  al)sor])ing  inter- 
est, mingled  with  doubts  as  to  its  truth.  It  was 
claimed  that  such  experiences  were  unparalleled  and 
highly  improbable ;  and  reasoning  from  the  strange 
separation  from  the  ship,  the  reticence  of  Capt.  Tyson, 
the  discoi'd  among  the  officers  at  Disco,  and  the  suspi- 
cious circumstances  attending  the  death  of  Capt.  Hall, 
the  public  began  to  believe  that  there  had  l)een  foul 
play  somewhere.  Not  a  few  accepted  the  theory  that 
Hall  had  been  poisoned  by  some  one  remaining  behind 
with  the  ship,  and  that  Capt.  Buddington  had  will- 
fully deserted  those  who,  at  his  own  command,  had 
betaken  themselves  to  the  ice.  The  friends  of  Bud- 
dington claimed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  back  of  all 
was  a  story  of  mutiny  and  desertion  which  would 


II 


no 


SUSPICIONS   OP   FOUL  PLAY — THE   FROLIO. 


1 


n 


only  he  brought  to  hght  by  the  return  of  the  Polaris. 

Tinder  these  circumstances,  and  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  Polaris  had  been  sent  out  by  the  Government, 
and  that  it  might  be  in  need  of  assistance,  it  was  con- 
sidered of  great  importance  that  the  authorities  at 
Washington  should  be  put,  as  soon  as  possible,  in 
possession  of  full  and  reliable  knowledge  of  all  the 
facts  of  the  case.  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  there- 
fore, in  the  absence  of  any  regular  communication 
with  St.  John's,  sent  the  U.  S.  Steamer  Frolic,  Com- 
mander C.  M.  Schoonmaker,  to  bring  the  party  direct 
to  Washington.  She  sailed  from  New  York,  for  that 
purpose,  May  15th. 

The  Frolic  arrived  at  St.  John's,  May  23d.  Taking 
the  Polaris  party  on  board,  she  started  on  her  home- 
ward trip  on  the  28th,  and  arrived  at  the  Washington 
Na\^  Yard  on  the  5th  of  June.  Commander  Schoon- 
maker reported  that  he  had  had  no  troul)le  with  his 
charge,  and  that  they  were  all  well-behaved,  orderly 
people.  lie  had  formed  a  very  favorable  opinion  of 
Capt.  Tyson,  and  considered  him  a  remarkably  intelli- 
gent man. 

Orders  were  given  that  no  person  should  be  allowed 
to  communicate  with  any  one  on  the  Frolic,  and  an 
examination  of  the  Polaris  party  was  commenced  the 
same  afternoon  at  the  navy  yard  before  the  Secretary 
of  the  Nax-y,  Commodore  William  Reynolds,  Professor 
Spencer  F.  Baird  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and 
Capt.  H.  W.  Ilowgate  of  the  Signal  Service.  The 
investigation  lasted  six  days  and  was  veiy  thorough, 
each  member  of  the  party  being  separately  examined 
under  oath,  excepting  Mrs.  Hans  Christian,  Punny, 
and  the  little  Christians.  The  results  of  this  investi- 
gation will  be  given  at  length  in  following  chapters. 


)lari8. 
e  fact 
raent, 
,9  con- 
ies  at 
)le,  in 
all  the 
tliere- 
ication 
!,  Com- 
■  direct 
or  that 

Taking 
r  home- 
hington 
Schoon- 
,vith  his 
orderly 
inion  of 
iutelli- 


CHAPTER  XLV. 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  ICEDRIFT  PARTY. 

Backicd  by  a  ghieier  uiul  fronted  1  )y  a  l);iy,  Tessiiisak, 
the  nu)>t  northeni  abode  of  civilized  man,  lias  the 
characttM'istic  features  of  an  Es(|uiinaux  village;  dirt 
and  grease  all  the  jear  ai'ound,  dark  for  four  months, 
accessible  through  tlie  floating  ice  of  an  Arctic  Sum- 
mer for  only  two.  But  Tessuisak  has  an  importance 
of  its  own.  Here  Arctic  explorers  cut  the  last  link 
that  binds  them  to  home  and  friends,  lieie  the  Polaris 
cast  off  from  civilization,  August  24tli,  1871,  and  here 
the  history  of  the  ex^iedition  as  told  by  the  rescued 
survivors  of  the  ice-drift  beijins. 

For  three  days  the  sliij)  steamed  up  Smith's  Sound 
through  the  usual  perils  of  Arctic  navigation.  Past 
Kane's  ^vinter-quarters  and  the  abandoned  Advance; 
through  the  bero-s  Avith  Avhich  the  uieat  Humboldt 
Glacier  on  the  right  filled  the  sea;  now  dodging  a 
berg  and  now  sailing  past  a  floe  the  stout  ship  Avent 
on,  "going  against  ice  like  one  berg  going  against 
another''  says  one  of  the  sailors  enthusiastically. 
Already  farther  than  any  vessel  had  ever  sailed  to 
the  Avest  of  Greenland,  she  still  kept  to  the  North 
through  Kennedy's  Channel,  till  Kane's  "  Open  Polar 
Sea "  was  proved  a  bay  and  named  after  the  vessel 
that  first  cut  its  waters ;  till  Cape  Lieber,  for  ten 


,1* 


ill  ^'^" 

m  ' 

r  1  < 

I 

i 

'! 

|v 

r 

1  ■ 


:« 


ifr^ 


Hi 
M 


712 


THE   I'OLAUIS    IN   Illflll   LATITUDE. 


yeai-s  the  limit  of  northern  discovery,  IlayeH*  final 
ncliievenient,  lay  untern, — on,  through  u  hundred  miles 
of  new  discoveries,  into  Robeson's  Channel,  now  firet 
named. 

On  Wednesday,  August  30th,  the  mints  of  ap- 
jM'oaching  ice-fields  shut  around  the  vessel,  and  her 
engines  were  stopped ;  she  lay  beset  by  ice  at  a 
higher  latitude  than  any  ship  had  ever  been — 82'''16'. 
Parry's  sledges,  after  Aveeks  of  toil,  had  ])enetrated 
but  thirty-four  miles  farther.  The  coveted  [)rize  of  a 
life-time  lay  almost  within  Captain  Hall's  i,n!isp.  The 
Pole,  over  \vhich  he  had  fondly  dreamed  of  anchoring 
the  vessel  he  conunanded,  was  but  five  hundied  and 
twenty-nine  miles  away — only  four  days'  sail,  and  he 
had  gone  nearly  twice  the  distance  in  the  week 
before.  The  an  eather  was  warm ;  six  weeks  of  the 
long  day  were  still  his.  A  gale  from  the  south,  a 
bold  dash  thi-ongh  an  opening  lead,  and  the  Polaris 
might  furl  iier  sails  in  the  starlit  calm  of  a  Polar  sea. 

After  being  tied  to  a  floe  for  a  few  hours  the 
Polaris  steamed  eastward,  where  Ilall  in  a  small  boat 
examined  an  inlet,  but  as  the  place  was  not  suitable 
for  a  harbor  he  called  it  Repulse  Bay.  He  then 
steamed  westward  and  fastened  to  a  floe  for  the  night. 
After  a  council  of  officers,  in  which  Buddington  was 
in  favor  of  gaining  a  winter  harbor  without  delay,  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  penetrate  north, 
and  as  a  residt,  the  Polaris  was  soon  helpless  in  the 
midst  of  the  paclc,  and  for  four  days  drifted  southerly 
with  it. 

When  released  from  the  ice  the  Polaris  was  headed 
eastward,  and,  at  a  small  inlet  of  Polaris  liay,  found 
a  tolerably  secure  anchorage  in  the  lee  of  a  stranded 
ice-berg   in   latitude    81''38^      Only   ten   days   had 


elapsed  si 

nien('('(| ;  I 

the  little  ii 

tlie  hospit 

Providence 

an  Arctic  t 

ing  on  the 

his  flag,  "ii 

dent  of  tlie 

In  a  few 

ice.     'J^lie  s 

Iiigh,  protoc 

and  brown, 

two   thousa 

wliich  bouii 

Polar  Star  i 

nieasuremen 

degrees  nori 

Capt.   Hall 

The  mounta 

crests  fifteeii 

out   the  suil 

horizon. 

The  sidesi 
and  her  dvdi 
The   dog?),  fl 
and  placed 
week.     The 
New  York, 
of  seventeen! 
shore,  and  tl 
an  Arctic  ni] 
Three  or  fj 
they  were  bl 


TUANK   GOD   nARBOR, 


VI 3 


elapsed  since  tlio  voyage  from  Tessuisak  was  com- 
menced ;  but  the  <laiigers  escaped  were  eiioiigli  to  give 
the  little  inlet  it's  name  of  Tliank  God  TLirbor,  and 
the  hospitable  berg  was  dignified  witli  the  title  of 
Providence  lierg.  At  midnight,  in  the  full  light  of 
an  Arctic  summer,  Captain  Hall  made  a  formal  land- 
ing on  the  cojist  he  had  discovered,  and  raised  over  it 
l)is  flag,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  LTnited  States." 

In  a  f(!W  days  the  Polaris  was  firmly  frozen  in  the 
ice.  The  sloj)ing  side  of  Providence  Berg,  sixty  feet 
high,  protected  the  vessel  seaward.  High  cliffs,  l)ai'e 
and  brown,  rose  landward  to  the  height  of  nearly 
two  thousand  feet,  and  sank  away  into  the  hills 
which  bounded  a  broad  and  wide  shore  plain.  The 
Polar  Star  stood  so  nearly  in  the  zenith  that  actual 
measui'emeut  was  required  to  prove  it  to  be  eight 
degrees  north.  In  the  coming  spring  and  summer 
Capt.  Ilall  hoped  to  place  it  directly  over  his  head. 
The  mountains  of  inner  Greenland  lifted  their  white 
ci'ests  fifteen  miles  away,  and  alr'^ady  began  to  shut 
out  the  sunlio-ht  in  its  circlinif  march  around  the 
horizon. 

The  sides  of  the  Polaris  were  banked  with  snow 
and  her  deck'  roofed  from  stem  to  stern  with  canvas. 
The  dogs,  fifty-four  in  numbei',  were  tiK^en  ashore 
and  placed  in  kennels,  where  they  were  fed  twicu  a 
week.  The  o1)servatory,  a  frame  building  inade  in 
New  York,  -was  erected  on  the  cliffs  at  an  elevation 
of  seventeen  hundred  feet.  Provisions  were  put  on 
shore,  and  the  other  usual  preparations  for  spending 
an  Arctic  night  in  high  latitudes  completed. 

Three  or  four  weeks  of  daylight  still  remained  and 
they  were  busily  employed.     Hans  and  Joe  brought 


:r  .3 


hr: 


714 


HALL  S  JOUBNEY  TO  THE  NORTH. 


iM 


in  musk-oxen,  hares,  lemmings,  and  specimens  of  a 
small  burrowing  rat.  White  foxes  were  found  in 
large  numbers.  The  valleys  bore  bright-colored 
flowers,  red  and  blue  being  the  prevailing  tints,  and 
trailing  willows — the  only  representatives  of  the  trees 
of  a  warmer  clime.  The  sea  swarmed  with  the  minute 
life  of  an  Arctic  ocean,  and  the  air  was  populous  with 
the  birds  with  which  previous  chapters  have  made 
the  reader  familiar. 

As  he  survej'^ed  all  these  tokens  of  a  still  Avaxmer 
climate  further  north,  it  must  have  been  with  no 
ordinary  hopes  of  auccess  that  Captain  Hall  looked 
forward  to  the  sledge  Journeys  of  the  coming  spring; 
and  preliminary  thereto  he  left  the  Polaris  on  the 
10th  of  October,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Chester,  Joe 
and  Hans,  with  two  sledges  and  fourteen  dogs.  ' 

Setting  out  on  this  expedition,  the  first  step  taken 
by  Captain  Hall  fell  upon  land  more  northern  than 
white  man's  foot  had  ever  before  touched.  In  the 
progress  of  the  journey — unhappily  the  last  that 
Captain  Hall  ^va8  to  make  toward  the  Pole — he  dis- 
covered a  river,  a  lake,  and  a  large  inlet  which  he 
named  Newman's  Bay.  At  Cape  Brevoort,  he 
rested,  and  there  wrote  his  last  dispatch  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the  original  draft  of  which 
was  found,  in  his  own  handwriting,  in  his  writing- 
desk,  on  its  examination  in  Washington  after  it  was 
delivered  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  by  Joe,  who 
had  kept  tlie  desk  in  his  custody  from  the  time  it  was 
picked  up  on  the  ice,  after  the  separation  of  the 
rescued  party  from  the  ship.  This  dispatch  is  as 
follows: —       .  ; 


HALL  8   LAST   DISPATCIL 


m 


of  a 
ind  in 

olored 
:8,  and 
e  trees 
ninute 
IS  witli 
!  made 

vaimer 
itli  no 
looked 
spring ; 
on  the 


p  taken 

rn  than 
In  the 
t  that 

-he  dis- 
lich  he 

ort,    he 

to  the 

Avhich 

writing- 

r  it  was 

)P,  who 

;  it  was 

of  the 

ch  is  as 


Sixth  Snow-house  Encampment,  Cape  Brevoobt. 
North  side  Entrance  to  Newman's  Bay, 
{latitude  82*  3'  north,  longitude  61»  20'  west), 

October  20,  1871. 

"  To  THE  Honorable   Secretary  of  the   United  States 
Navy,  George  M.  Robkson  : 

"Myself  tirul  party,  consisting  of  Mr.  Chester,  first  mate, 
my  Esquimaux  Joe,  and  Greenland  Esquiuiiiux  Hans,  left 
the  ship  in  winter  quarters,  Thank  God  Harbor,  latitude  81® 
38'  north,  longitude  61*  44'  west,  at  meridian  of  October  10, 
on  a  journey  by  two  sledges,  drawn  by  fourteen  dugs,  to 
discover,  if  ]5ossible,  a  feasible  route  inland  for  my  sledge 
journey  next  sp'-itig  to  reach  the  North  Pole,  purposing  to 
adopt  such  a  route,  if  found,  better  than  a  route  over  the 
old  floes  and  hummocks  of  the  strait,  which  I  have  denomi- 
nated Jlobeson  Strait,  after  the  honorable  Secretary  of  the 
United  States  Navy. 

"We  arrived  on  the  evening  of  October  17,  saving  dis- 
covered a  lake  and  a  river  on  our  way  ;  the  latter,  our  route, 
a  most  serpentine  one,  which  led  us  on  to  this  bay,  fifteen 
miles  distant  from  here,  southward  and  eastward.  From 
the  top  of  an  icel)erg,  near  the  mouth  of  said  river, 
we  could  see  that  this  bay,  which  I  have  named  after 
Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  extended  to  the  highland  eastward 
and  southward  of  that  position  about  fifteen  miles,  making 
the  extent  of  iS'cwiijan's  Bay,  from  its  headland  or  cape, 
full  thirty  miles. 

"The  south  capo  is  a  high,  bold,  and  noble  headland.  I 
have  named  it  Sunmer  Headland,  after  Hon.  Charles  Sumner, 
the  orator  and  United  States  Senator;  and  the  north  cape, 
Brevoort  Cape,  after  J.  Carson  Brevoort,  a  strong  friend  to 
Arctic  discoveries. 

"  On  arriving  hero  we  found  the  mouth  of  Newman's  Bay 
open  water,  having  numerous  seals  in  it,  bobbing  up  their 
heads;  this  open  water  making  close  both  to  Sumner  Head- 
land and  Capo  Brevoort,  and  the  ice  of  Robeson  Strait  oa 
the  move,  thus  debarring  all  possible  chance  of  extending 
our  journey  on  the  ice  up  the  strait. 


l!  ■'  \ 


III 


I      t 


•iP 


716 


hall's  last  dispatch. 


i\  i 


"  Thft  nioTintainoiia  iand  (none  other  about  here)  will  not 
admit  of  our  journeying  further  north,  and  as  the  time  of 
our  expected  abseuc:  avi,.-'  r.nderstood  to  be  for  two  weeks, 
wfi  commence  our  roi  n.'  '^rrow  morning.     To-day  we 

arg  storm-bound  to  th  ■!  our  aixUi  encampment. 

•'  From  Cape  Brevoort  we  can  see  land  extending  on  the 
west  side  of  the  strait  to  th«>  north  22°  west,  and  distant 
about  seventy  miles,  thus  making  land  we  discover  as  far  as 
latitude  83"  5' north. 

"There  is  appearance  of  land  further  north,  and  extending 
more  easterly  than  what  I  have  just  noted,  but  a  peculiar 
dark  nimbus  cloud  that  constantly  hangs  over  what  seems 
may  be  land  prevents  my  making  a  full  determination. 

"  On  August  30,  the  Polaris  made  her  greatest  northing 
latitude  82°  29'  north  ;  but  after  several  attempts  to  get  her 
further  north,  she  became  beset,  wlior  v,o  were  drifted  down 
to  about  latitude  8i°  30',  "When  ■.  jponing  occurred  we 
steamed  out  of  the  pack  and  !  i;dn  i.-rbor  September  3, 
where  the  Polaris  is.  [Corii  r  •!  \lo  manuscript  here 
burned  off.] 

"  Up  to  the  time  I  and  my  (jari)  'O^'  he  ship  all  have 
been  well,  and  continv.o  with  high  hopes  of  accouiplishing 
our  great  mission. 

"  We  find  this  a  much  warmer  country  than  we  expected. 
From  Cape  Alexander  the  mountains  on  either  side  of  the 
Kennedy  Channel  and  Robeson  Strait  wo  found  entirely 
bare  of  snow  and  ice,  with  the  i^xception  of  a  glacier  that  we 
saw  covering  about  latitude  •■.  ^  30'  east  side  the  strait,  and 
extending  in  a  east-northen.s,  Viri^ction  as  far  as  can  bo  seen 
from  the  mountains  by  Polaris  .'^    •. 

"  We  have  found  that  the  country  abounds  with  life,  and 
sealjj,  s'avuo,  ,T;cn?e,  ducks,  musk-cattle,  rabbits,  wolves,  foxus, 
be.Nrj,  partri(v  ',  Icnnnings,  etc.  Our  scalers  have  shot  twt) 
seals  in  the  open  water  while  at  this  encampment.  Our  long 
Arctic  night  commenced  October  13,  having  seen  only  the 
upper  limb  of  the  sun  above  the  glacier  at  meridian  October 
12.  This  dispatch  to  Secretary  of  the  Navy  I  finislicl  this 
moment,  8.23  p.  m.,  having  written  it  in  ink  in  our  snowliut, 


DEATH   OF  CAPTAIN  HALL. 


nt 


I  -will  not 

time  of 

'0  weeks, 

0-day  we 

ig  on  tlie 
id  distant 
r  as  far  as 

extending 
a  peculiar 
;hat  seems 
tion. 

t  nortiiing, 
s  to  get  ber 
•ifted  down 
)ccnrred  we 
sptember  3, 
iscript  here 

ip  all  have 
coniplishing 

c  expected. 

Bide  of  tlie 
;nd  entirely 
,cier  that  we 
le  strait,  and 
i  can  be  seen 

ntb  life,  and 
•olvcs,  foxo!*, 
ivc  Bbot  two 
t.  Our  b»"t? 
seen  only  the 
diiin  October 
tinisbed  this 
ur  snow- but, 


lihe  thermometer  outside  minus  7°.  Yesterday  all  day  the 
thermometer  minus  20  to  23°;  that  is,  20®  minus  to  23® 
minus  Fahrenheit." 

"Copy  of  dispatch  placed  in  pillar,  Brevoort  Cape, 
October  21,  1871." 

Captain  Hall  had  hoped,  when  he  left  the  Polaris 
on  this  journey,  to  advance  noi-thward  at  least  a  hun- 
dred miles ;  but  after  having  gone  about  fifty  lie  Avas 
compelled,  by  the  condition  of  the  chore  and  of  the  ice 
and  by  the  state  of  the  climate,  to  return  and  await 
the  approach  of  spring  for  another  attempt.  He 
reached  the  ship  on  the  24th  of  October,  appar- 
ently in  his  usual  health,  but  was  attacked  the  same 
day  with  sickness  of  the  stomach  and  vomiting;  and, 
taking  to  his  bed,  the  next  day  was  found  to  be  se- 
riously ill.  Dr.  Bessels  attended  him  professionally, 
and  he  recovered  sufficiently  to  leave  his  bed,  to  move 
about  his  cabin  a  little,  and  to  attempt  to  attend  to 
business ;  but  he  soon  had  a  relapse,  became  again  de- 
lirious, and  died  on  the  8th  of  November  1871,  from 
attacks  of  apoplexy,  a8  was  generally  reported  and 
believed. 

Dui'ing  his  illness,  Captain  Hall  was  nursed  by  the 
faithful  and  affectionate  Hannah,  and  she  and  her 
liusband  were  greatly  grieved  at  the  loss  of  their  old 
and  well-tried  friend.  The  following  is  her  account 
of  his  sickness : — 

"  About  an  hour  after  getting  on  bonvd,  Captain 
Hall  sent  the  little  girl  to  call  me  up.  I  found  Mr. 
Morton  undressing  him  and  washing  his  feet.  Cap- 
tain Hall  was  sick.  He  spoke  about  being  sick  and 
vomiting,  I  asked  him  if  he  had  got  cold.  He  said 
he  felt  well  enough  in  the  morning.     Next  day  very 

sick.    Worse  than  last  night.     I  observed  him  close. 

41 


Bii.t' 


?Ili':i 


3  'i 


iit 


Wi 


■ 


■f  ' 


ill /J! 


JOE  S   STORY. 


He  was  very  sleepy.  He  felt  bail.  Did  not  say 
much. 

"  After  lie  had  been  bad  about  the  head  he  began 
to  get  better.  Then  he  talked  about  the  coffee.  ^  aid 
it  made  him  sick.  Too  sweet  for  him.  When  some- 
thing was  the  matter  with  his  head,  and  he  was  hal- 
looing and  talking,  he  talked  of  somebody  having 
poisoned  him,  but  only  when  he  was  crazy.  I  do  not 
b.elieve  any  body  b  "d  poisoned  him." 

Joe,  who  acjompanied  Capt.  Hall  to  Newman's 
Bay,  gives  the  following  account  of  his  sickness  and 
death : — 

"I  had  driven  sledge  very  hard,  and  after  supper 
went  to  sleep  down  stairs.  Captain  Hall  did  not  eat 
supper,  l>ut  only  took  cup  of  coffee.  I  did  not  see 
Mm  that  night.  'I  saw  him  next  morning,  Sunday 
morning.  He  did  not  speak.  He  remained  abed. 
After  breakfast  he  asked  to  speak  to  me.  He  says, 
'Very  sick  last  night.'  I  asked  him  '  What  is  the  mat- 
ter.' He  says, '  I  do  not  know.  I  took  a  cup  of  coffee. 
In  a  little  while  very  sick  and  vomiting.'  He  Avas 
sick  the  first  time  two  or  three  days.  Complained 
of  stomach,  headache,  and  bone-nche.  After  he  got 
better  I  go  see  him  every  da}' — ever}'  night.  After  a 
while  something  the  matter  with  head.  Did  not 
know  anything.  Perhaps  crazy.  I  tried  to  speak 
him.  He  did  not  know  me.  I  wish  to  stay  with  him. 
Captain  Hall  called  me  to  stay  with  him.  After  he 
got  better,  I  asked  him  what  made  him  sick.  He 
says,  *  I  don't  know.'  Everybody  went  to  breakfast. 
I  staid  with  him.  I  said  I  was  very  glad  lie  was 
better.  He  said  'I  have  been  sick.  Don't  know 
whether  I  will  live  or  not.'  I  asked  l-'.m,  *  Do  you 
know  what  is  matter  ? '     He  says,  '  I  can't  tell  what 


t  say- 
began 

^aid 

some- 
is  hal- 
having 
do  not 

Oman's 

ess  and 

supper 
not  eat 
not  see 
Sunday 
d   abed. 
le  says, 
the  mat- 
)f  coffee. 
lie  was 
iiplalued 
L-  he  got 
After  a 
Did   not 
to  speak 
vlth  him. 
After  he 
aek.     He 
breakfast. 
lI  he  -vvas 
I't  know 
^ '  Do  yon 
tell  what 


i" 


r 


I 


', 


li 
w 

r 
P 
it. 


11 : 


■M 


ml- 


tfi: 


'Is 


I! 


i  1 

1 

1 11^ 

ill 

1 

H 

FUNERAL   OF  CAPTAIN  HALL. 


719 


is  the  matter.  Bad  stomach.  Very  bad  stomach.' 
After  getting  breakfast  I  wanted  to  find  out  what 
waa  the  matter  with  him.  A  man  came  down  into 
the  cabin,  and  he  said  notliing  to  me  more.  After 
that  Hannah  talked  to  him.  Every  morning  I  was 
absent  seal-hunting.  I  overheard  Captain  Budding- 
ton  talk  about  Captain  Hall.  I  wanted  to  hear. 
Captain  Buddington  said  he  was  sick  again.  Did 
not  know  me.  Once  in  a  while  he  called,  '  Halloo, 
Joe  ! '  Then  did  not  know  me.  Two  nights  he  wa3 
very  sick.     Died  two  nights  and  one  day  after." 

It  takes  two  days  to  dig  a  grave  ^vith  picks  and 
ice-chisels  and  axes  in  the  flint-like  ground,  and  on 
the  third  day  after  his  death,  the  crew,  dressed  in 
their  Arctic  clothing  and  with  lanterns  in  their  hands, 
bear  to  their  long  rest  the  remains  of  their  loved  and 
honored  commander.  The  bier,  covered  with  the 
national  flags,  rests  on  a  sledge  which  the  men,  in 
procession,  two  by  two,  draw  gently  by  the  rope.  Fol- 
lo^ving  the  sledge,  the  Escpiiiiiaux  straggle  on  in 
bewilderment  and  grief  at  the  scene.  The  flag  on 
the  observatory  droops  at  half-mast,  and  the  ice-bound 
waters  of  Polaris  Bay  shimmer  in  the  clear  Uglit  of 
the  stars  and  in  the  more  fitfid  gleams  of  the 
evanescent  Auroras.  At  the  grave,  by  tlie  light  of 
"  lanterns  dimly  burning,"  Mr.  Bryan  reads  the  fune- 
ral services. 

A  rude  head-board  marks  the  shallow  resting- 
place  of  the  lost  explorer.  For  long  months  round  i  , 
sweeps  the  un  setting  sun  in  the  long  circles  of  an 
Arctic  day,  and  over  it  shines  the  Polar  star.  It  is 
fitting  that  they,  and  they  alone,  should  keep  watch 
and  ward  over  the  grave  of  one  who  so  nearly  stolo 
fi'om  Nature,  secrets  which  their  eyes  alone  have 
rested  on. 


w 


t 


H 


720 


THE   WINTER   AT   POLABIS   BAT. 


1 


Ten  days  after  Captain  Hall's  burial,  the  Polaris 
felt  the  first  real  dangers  of  Arctic  navigation.  For 
forty-eight  hours  a  severe  gale  accompanied  by  a 
snow-storm  swept  from  the  north-east,  and  the  ice 
around  the  ship  began  to  crack  and  the  snow-wall, 
laboriously  banked  as  a  protection  •  for  the  winter,  to 
settle.  The  next  day  the  ice  broke  all  around  ^.he 
vessel,  the  snow-wall  sunk  out  of  sight,  and  in  the  ice 
that  crashed  in  about  the  ship  from  the  shore,  her 
port  anchor  ceased  to  hold.  It  was  a  moment  of 
intense  peril.  In  the  darkness  of  a  whirling  snow- 
storm and  an  Arctic  night,  so  dense  that  ol)jects 
twenty  feet  distant  were  invisible,  she  was  drifting — 
drifting,  with  the  sloping  wall  of  Providence  Berg 
full  in  her  lee.  Her  starboard  anchor  rattled  down, 
but  the  Polaris  dragged  two  anchors  as  easily  as  she 
had  one.  Forced  on  by  the  ice,  and  driven  by  the 
moving  hurricane,  the  crew  watched  momentarily  for 
the  wall  of  sloping  ice  that  was  to  wreck  or  save 
their  craft.  For  two  hours  they  kept  their  watch 
through  the  wreathing  snow.  The  vessel  was  less 
than  half  its  own  length  from  the  berg  when  the 
great  white  wall  that  rose  half-mast  high  above  them 
was  discovered  by  the  anxious  crew. 

Providence  Berg  was  again  their  salvation.  Vol- 
unteers  were  called  for  to  moor  the  ship  to  the  berg. 
William  Linderman,  seaman,  jierformed  the  danger- 
ous duty.  Cutting  steps  in  the  smooth  icy  slope 
with  a  hatchet,  he  fastened  an  ice-hook.  Other  lines 
were  made  fast  aft  in  the  same  manner,  by  fastening 
heavy  iron  hooks,  weighing  seventy-five  pounds,  in 
the  berg,  and  the  vessel  rode  once  more  in  safety. 
Some  of  *he  stores  and  three  of  the  sleighs,  one  a 
companion  of  Dr.  Kane,  were  lost  in  the  breaking  ice; 
fortunately  the  dogs  were  in  safety  on  board. 


THE  WINTER  AT  POLARIS  BAT. 


721 


A  week  later  and  another  gale  broke  from  a  di- 
rectly opposite  quarter — the  south-west.  The  iceberg 
to  which  they  had  moored  in  their  peril  seemed 
likely  to  prove  their  destruction.  Ice  from  the  strait 
without  crowded  in  upon  it.  The  immense  mass 
moved  slowly  toward  the  little  steamer  which  lay  moor- 
ed twenty  feet  from  its  base.  Under  the  enormous 
pressure  the  great  block  of  ice  broke.  It  must  have 
sounded  like  the  crack  of  doom  to  the  seamen,  who 
saw  their  only  protection  from  southerly  gales  part- 
ing before  them.  Half  of  the  berg  drifted  on  to  the 
vessel.  The  ice  had  been  piled  high  and  deep  behind 
her  by  the  previous  gale.  There  was  small  chance  of 
moving  shoreward.  When  the  nip  came  she  rose 
bodily  in  the  air.  Foot  by  foot,  her  timbers  crack- 
ing, her  seams  opening,  her  whole  frame  quivering  in 
the  terrible  embrace,  the  Polaris  rose.  A  projecting 
spur  struck  her,  and  the  ship  went  over  till  her  deck 
was  too  steep  to  walk  upon.  There  on  her  beam 
ends  she  lay  the  winter  through. 

The  long  winter  wore  away.  There  was  little  to 
relieve  the  dreary  monotony  of  enforced  idleness. 
The  steep,  sloping  deck  was  roofed  ^vith  canvas  and 
dimly  lighted  by  a  lantern.  Below,  there  was 
warmth,  comfort,  and  comparative  luxury.  No  better 
proof  of  the  thorough  and  careful  equipment  of  the 
Polaris,  or  of  the  excellence  of  the  stores,  and  we 
may  add  of  the  discipline  of  her  commander,  in  spite 
of  testimony  to  the  contrary,  need  be  given,  than  the 
fact  that  the  whole  winter  passed  without  a  case  of 
scurvy.  Some  few  symptoms  were  felt,  but  they  all 
disappeared  under  treatment. 

Without  the  vessel,  silence,  cold,  desolation,  reign- 
ed supreme.    By  the   side  of  the  steamer  rose  the 


122 


OUTSIDE  THE   SHIP. 


i' 


1 

I 


! 


! 


jagged  and  splintered  sides  of  the  berg,  gleaming 
brightly  in  the  moonlight,  reddened  by  auroral  flash- 
es, or  standing  white  and  ghostly  under  the  stars. 
Across  the  heaped  and  broken  shore-ice  a  well  trod- 
den path  led  to  the  ob8ervator}^  Hourly  observa- 
tions were  hekl  there,  and  the  path  was  a  familiar  one ; 
but  when  a  storm  came,  and  the  berg  faded  out  of 
sight,  and  the  whole  atmosphere  was  full  of  diiv- 
ing  snow  so  fine  that  it  sifted  through  clothing  and 
could  only  be  kept  out  by  furs,  men  staggered 
along  the  familiar  track,  scarcely  able  to  reach  the 
ship,  but  a  few  yards  off.  Near  by  were  the  huts 
in  which  the  Esquimaux  of  the  expedition  passed 
the  winter. 

The  Polaris  lay  undisturbed  on  her  icy  dock,  but 
teriific  gales  kept  the  strait  ice  in  motion.  Bergs 
were  continually  sweeping  it  clear  of  ice  and  at  no 
time  was  it  closed  by  ice  more  than  a  few  weeks  old. 
The  entire  mass  showed  clear  signs  of  a  drift  south- 
ward. This  fact  and  the  drift-wood  discovered  in  a 
journey  afterwards  undertaken,  prove  that  Smith 
Sound  and  the  chain  of  straits  above  it,  all  communi- 
cate at  length  Avith  open  water.  To  reach  this,  if 
possible,  in  boats  was  now  the  object  of  the  exjilorers. 

The  work  was  begun  promptly.  In  the  darkness 
of  the  last  week  in  January,  Dr.  Bessels  pushed  to 
the  north  in  a  sledge  with  eight  dogs  and  two  mem- 
bers of  the  crew.  Nine  miles  away  they  were  checked 
by  an  ice-bound  cape,  which  they  could  not  climb, 
and  returned,  having  noted  only  that  the  ice  in  the 
strait  was  drifting  loosely  in  the  current.  The  next 
day  another  party  made  an  attempt  along  the  mount- 
ain chain,  but  with  equal  ill-success.  The  steep  ice- 
clad  cliffs  could  not  be  scaled.     It  was  too  plainly 


EETUENINO  DAT. 


728 


the  niglit  wlien  no  man  can  work.  They  must  wait 
for  daylight. 

A  month  later,  Febiniary  28th,  as  noon  drew  near, 
there  came  a  glad  che*^:  from  the  little  eonij)any. 
For  a  hundred  and  thirty-four  days  they  had  timed 
the  hours  l)y  their  watches,  by  the  stars,  by  the  moon, 
by  everything  except  daylight;  and  now  the  stars 
faded  utterly  away,  and  the  sun  rose  over  the  glisten- 
ing peaks  of  the  mountains  that  had  fringed  for  a 
month  past  the  twilight  of  the  coming  day.  In  a 
few  moments  the  sun  was  gone.  But  the  long  dark- 
ness was  over.  The  greatest  extreme  of  cold  was  yet 
to  come ;  there  were  yet  four  months  of  weary  wait- 
ing in  the  ice;  but  henceforth  daily  the  sun  rose 
above  the  horizon,  and  the  diaries  and  conversations 
of  the  men  all  take  a  more  cheerful  turn. 

Early  in  March  Hans  patience  was  rewarded  by  a 
seal,  and  before  April  was  gone  nearly  all  the  game 
had  returned.  Strangely  enough  the  musk-oxen  came 
from  the  north-west.  These  animals  were  smaller  than 
those  found  in  Labrador,  and  >  'thout  the  strong  musky 
smell  which  makes  their  flesl:  .xipalatable.  "With  their 
long,  sliaggv  hair  and  short,  sharp  horns,  they  seemed 
formidable  antagonists,  and  generally  adoi)ted  the 
same  tactics  which  they  use  when  attacked  by  wolves. 
Standing  in  pairs  they  would  rush  forward  a  few 
feet  towards  the  hunters,  and  then  spring  back  again. 
When  one  fell  the  other  defended  him,  till  he  too 
was  stnick  down  by  a  bullet.  As  spring  advanced 
they  were  foiuid  with  their  calves,  but  the  young 
were  rarely  perceived  till  the  dams  were  shot  down, 
as  they  took  refuge  when  attacked  directly  under  the 
older  animals,  and  were  entirely  concealed  by  the 
long  hair  which  came  to  the  ground.     Several  bears 


■  p  ;i 


i;  I 


>M.i 


Hi;,:  ;;i 

m 


i 


'■ 


12A 


BEAR   irUNTINO. 


were  killed,  all  smaller  than  their  brethren  of  South- 
ern Greenland.  The  tenacity  of  life  which  the  dogs 
displayed  was  wonderful.  Caught  up  by  an  enraged 
bear  and  flung  against  clumps  of  ice,  stunned, 
and  left  for  dead,  they  were  sure  to  limp  into  camp 
the  next  day,  but  little  the  worse  for  the  experience. 

Three  exploring  expeditions  were  undertaken — two 
on  sledges  and  one  ^  ')oat.  The  first  in  April, 
comprising  Dr.  Besse  '^r.  Bryan,  Hans  and  Joe, 
pushed  forty  miles  to  the  south,  and  linked  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  "  Polaris  "  with  those  of  the  "  Advance." 

Drawn  by  eight  powerful  wolfish  dogs,  the  explorers 
pushed  on  till  stopped  by  open  water  along  the  shore, 
and  by  the  steep  coast.  Two  fiords  were  passed  and 
mapped  to  their  termination.  These  deep  and  nar- 
row indentations  of  the  sea  are  as  jirominent  a  feat- 
ure of  the  Greenland  as  of  the  Norwegian  coast. 
The  two  explored  were  surrounded  by  glaciers  and 
filled  with  icebergs.  Their  sides  rose  steeply  from 
the  water,  often  to  a  height  of  nearly  seven  hundred  feet. 
These  lake-like  inlets  are  of  rare  beauty  and  of  pecu- 
liar geological  interest,  but  were  a  serious  bar  to  the 
rapid  exploration  of  the  coast.  A  month  later  a 
double  expedition  was  sent  northward  to  survey 
Newman's  Bay  and  search  for  open  water. 

On  shore  the  snow  was  rapidly  melting,  and  the 
valleys  and  ravines  were'  rushing  torrents  of  water. 
Dangerous  crevasses  in  the  glaciers  which  must  be 
crossed  made  further  travel  by  sleighs  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Journeys  with  boats  were  therefore  attempted, 
and  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  exaggerate  the  pluck 
and  persistence  exhibited  therein.  One  party  had 
encamped  for  the  night  on  an  ice-field  a  mile  from 
shore,   when    they    were    suddenly    awakened    by 


EXCURSIONS   TO  THE  NOUTH. 


m 


OUtll' 

dogs 
raged 
nned, 
camp 
ience. 
— two 
April, 
d  Joe, 
he  dis- 
prance." 
plorers 
;  shore, 
ied  and 
,nd  nar- 
b  a  feat- 
Q  coast, 
ers  and 
ly  from 
red  feet, 
of  pecu- 
ir  to  the 

later  a 
survey 

and  the 
)f  water, 
must  be 
the  ques- 
tempted, 
Hi  pluck 
vrty  had 
nile  from 
ened   by 


another  field  drifting  down  on  them.  In  an  instant 
the  smooth  field  on  which  they  were,  seamed  and 
cracked  in  every  direction.  HunimockH  sprang  up 
under  tlieir  feet.  Great  cakes  of  ice  rose  twenty, 
thirty  feet  in  the  air,  and  fell  with  a  deafening  crash. 
The  ice  opened  and  the  party  were  se})arate(l,  two  on 
one  piece,  whil  the  boat  and  crew  were  on  another. 
In  another  instant  the  boat  itself  lay  flat  beneath 
a  fragment  of  an  iceberg  which  had  moved  into  the 
field.  Nothing  daunted,  the  party  returned  to  the 
vessel,  and  in  four  days  were  afloat  in  a  canvas  boat. 
For  two  weeks,  the  two  crews  of  four  men  each, 
accompanied  by  Tyson,  Chester,  Bessels,  and  Meyers, 
continued  tlieir  dangerous  work. 

It  was  the  old,  old  story  of  Arctic  adventure. 
Leads  opening  to  close  again  in  a  short  time.  A  few 
miles  of  northing  gained  by  hard  rowing  and  an 
encampment  made,  only  to  find  in  the  morning  that 
the  whole  floe  had  been  drifting  south.  The  melting 
ice  was  covered  with  water,  and  their  sleeping-ljags 
were  nightly  soaked.  The  fuel  was  so  nearly 
exhausted  that  coffee  could  be  prepared  but  once  a 
day,  and  the  pemmican  and  preserved  meat  were  eaten 
cold.  Ceaseless  care  was  needed  to  preserve  the 
boats  from  a  second  accident.  Often  the  lives  of  the 
party  would  hang  on  the  few  minutes  of  rowing 
needed  to  reach  some  safe  sheet  before  the  pack- 
ice,  drifting  down  on  them,  had  crushed  boat  and 
crew. 

Two  of  the  pai*ty  returned  to  the  ship  June  27th, 
to  obtain  provisions.  They  found  her  sinking.  Steam 
])umps  were  running  sixteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four  to  keep  her  afloat.  In  May,  when  the  ice  first 
began  to  melt,  she  had  begun  to  leak,  uiid  ever  since 


;i 


I 


iM'i 


1-1 


f 


i 


I'JfPlij 

IM\\ 


e 


m 


12G 


EXCURSIONS   TO  THE  NORTH. 


seemed  to  fill  as  she  settled.  She  soon  flor.ted  freely, 
and  her  condition  improving,  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
was  made  to  run  to  the  north  to  take  on  tlie  boats. 
Hans  was  then  sent,  with  orders  to  the  excursionists 
to  return  as  soon  as  possible ;  but  it  was  three  w  eks 
before  all  had  come  Ijack. 

On  the  14:th  of  August,  the  Polaris  turned  home- 
ward. The  voyage  u})  had  l)een  accomplished  in  a 
week ;  it  Avas  to  be  eight  mouths  before  even  a  part 
of  the  ship's  crew  would  be  rescued  from  the  ice. 
August  passed,  September  wore  away  day  by  day, 
October  was  half  ovei,  and  the  good  shij)  still 
fought  a  vain  battle  with  ice-floes  and  bergs.  She 
entered  leads  only  to  have  her  timbers  strained  by 
nips.  The  young  ice  encased  the  vessel,  and  .lo  open- 
ing came  through  the  floes  beyond.  The  ship  steadily 
became  more  unseaworthy.  Preparatiojis  wave  made 
for  leaving  her  at  an  instant's  notice. 

On  the  night  of  the  15th  of  October  1S72,  in  about 
latitude  TO*-'  35',  during  a  violent  gale  of  wind  and 
snow,  the  Polaris  was  beset  by  a  tremendous  pressure 
of  ice,  wiiich  was  forced  under  h(!r  and  finally  threw 
her  over  on  her  beam  ends.  Captain  liuddiugton 
ordered  the  provisions,  stores  and  matei'ials,  which 
had  bv'en  previously  arranged  in  readiness  '>n  the 
deck,  to  be  thrown  overboard  on  the  ice,  and  directed 
that  Tyson  and  half  the*  crew  should  go  upon  the  ice 
and  carry  these  stores  upon  a  thicker  })art  r\'  the  floe, 
where  they  would  l)e  coni])ai'atively  safe.  He  also 
sent  all  the  Es<juiinaux  with  their  kayaks  out  of  tlie 
ship,  and  lowered  the  two  reniarning  boats  ui)on  the 
floe.  While  thus  engaged,  in  the  darkness  of  an 
Arctic  night  and  in  tlie  midst  of  a  flerce  gale,  the 
hawsers  of  the  Polaris  failed  to  hold  her,  and  she 


freely, 
vttempt 
^  boats, 
•sionists 
e  v  eks 

l1  liome- 
led  iu  a 
1  a  part 

the  ice. 

\>y  *lay, 
hip  still 
i-os.  She 
i-aiiHid  \>y 
I  no  open- 
p  steadily 
vere  made 

>,  iu  about 
^vind  and 
IS  pressure 
ally  threw 
u(UViuu;ton 
uls,  ^vhich 
t^H   "U  the 
id  cVuec'ted 
pou  the  ioe 
(>t"  the  iloe, 
\     He  also 
,mt  of  the 
ts  up<»n  the 
<ness  of   an 
CO  gale,  the 
ler,  aud  she 


DESERTED   BY   THE  POLAIUS. 


727 


broke  adrift  from  the  floe  and  in  a  few  minutes  was 
out  of  sight  of  the  party  on  the  ice. 

At  the  time  of  this  involuntary  separation  there 
were  nineteen  persons  on  the  ice,  but  some  of  tlie  men 
and  a  large  share  of  the  provisions  Avere  on  j)ieces  of 
ice  separate  from  tlie  floe.  The  men  \vere  all  secui-ed, 
but  much  valuable  food  was  lost.  The  party  on  the 
floe  rolled  themselves  up  in  musk-ox  skins  and 
passed  the  night  as  best  they  could.  Captain  Tyson 
kept  guard,  and  walked  the  ice,  watching  anxiously 
for  the  morning  and  looking  eagerly  for  the  Polaris. 
The  morning  came,  but  with  it  came  no  sign  of  the 
ship. 

The  next  day  the  party  made  several  attempts  to 
reach  the  land  with  the  boats,  but  failed,  notwith- 
standing their  most  persistent  efforts,  owing  to  the 
obstruction  of  the  ice  and  the  violence  of  the  wind. 
During  this  day  the  Polaris  came  in  sight  to  the 
northward,  apparently  coming  toward  the  floe  under 
steam  and  sails.  A  blanket  was  hoisted  on  an  oar, 
and  displayed  '.'om  the  top  of  a  hunnnock,  aud  other 
signals  made  ro  attract  the  attention  of  Captain  Bud- 
dington,  and  strong  hopes  were  entertained  by  the 
shipless  mariners  that  they  would  be  rescued.  They 
were  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  Polaris  ap- 
proached so  near  that  they  could  distinguish  her 
escape-pipe,  and  they  plainly  saw  her  down  to  her 
rail ;  but  she  altered  her  course  and  disap])eared 
behind  an  island.  Again  in  the  course  of  the  cia^y 
tlie  Polaris  was  discovered  with  her  sails  furled, 
apparently  at  anchor  neai-  an  island.  It  -was  very 
natural  that  Tyson  and  his  party  in  their  desperate 
circumstances,  should  conclude  that  Buddington  was 
either  over  cautious  as  to  his  own  safety  or  indiffer- 


till'  . 

in  '■" 


ffl  \fwi' 


ti! 


728 


THE   DRIFT   SOUTHWARD. 


ent  to  ilieirs,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Polaris  was  in  a  leaking  condition  and  without  a 
single  boat  of  any  kind,  while  the  ice-bound  company 
had  two  boats,  the  kayaks,  and  a  scow  in  their  posses- 
sion. 

Shortly  after  the  Polaris  had  been  sighted  a  second 
time,  a  violent  gale  from  the  north-east  sprang  up, 
and  the  floe  drifted  away  to  the  southward,  with 
these  nineteen  persons  still  upon  it.  The  floe  was 
originally  of  a  circular  shape  and  about  five  miles  in 
diameter.  Captain  Tyson  estimated  its  thickness  to 
vary  from  ten  to  thirty  feet.  Much  of  its  surface 
w\as  covered  with  snow  and  there  were  hillocks  and 
dejiressions. 

Fortunately  a  pretty  good  stock  of  provisions  had 
been  saved,  and  the  Esquimaux  made  some  snow 
huts  in  which  the  party  lived  and  kept  their  stores. 
These  huts,  four  in  number,  were  built  in  the  shape 
of  an  old-fashioned  straw  bee-hive,  about  six  feet 
higli,  with  a  hole  at  the  bottom  large  enough  for  the 
men  to  crawl  in.  Some  old  canvas  served  for 
a  flooring  on  which  musk-ox  skins  were  ])laced  for 
beds,  and  other  skins  answered  for  bed-clothes. 
Some  pemmican  cans  were  used  for  lamps ;  seals  fur- 
nished the  oil ;  and  moss,  or  canvas  took  the  place  of 
wicking.  Mr.  Meyer  made  some  weights  out  of  shot, 
and  daily  rations  were  dealt  out,  eleven  ounces  being 
allowed  to  each  jierson. 

The  discipline  of  the  party  does  not  apjn'ar  to  have 
been  of  th(f  best;  indeed,  Ca])t.  Tyson  states  that 
there  was  little  or  nothing  that  could  be  called  disci, 
pline.  Every  one  did  as  he  pleased,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  Hannah,  surrounded  as  she  Avas  by  armed 
and  at  times  hungry  men,  sufl'ered  terribly  from  fears 


THE   BESCUE. 


t^9 


of  what  miglit  happen  if  the  provisions  gave  out 
entirely.  Still  all  knew  that  their  salvation  depended 
npon  union  and  mutual  cooperation,  and  there  Avas  a 
discipline  of  circumstances,  if  not  of  morals  and  law. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  iinding  their  icy  quarters  much 
reduced  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  floe,  they  launched 
their  boat  into  open  water  and  pulled  towards  the 
Avest,  in  oi'der,  if  possible,  to  gain  the  coast.  At  times 
meeting  ice  too  closely  packed  to  get  through,  they 
were  compelled  to  haul  the  boat  upon  it,  launching 
her  again  as  soon  as  a  lead  opened  to  the  westward 
or  southward.  In  this  Ma}'  they  passed  a  month  of 
weary  and    '  sperate  endeavor. 

Toward  m*  close  of  April  their  provisions  Avere 
almost  exhausted,  and  they  Avere  one  day  absolutely 
reduced  to  less  than  a  biscuit  aj)ie<e  and  a  mouthful 
of  pemmican,  when  a  bear,  scenting  them  on  the  ice, 
approached  them  and  Avas  shot,  and  tl"  y  ^^el•e  thus 
rescued  from  starvation.  Revi\  id  by  this  gootl  for- 
tune, and  strengthened  by  their  neAv  supply  of  fresh 
meat,  they  struggled  on  till  the  last  day  of  April, 
1873,  AA'hen  they  Avere  rescued  by  the  Tigress. 

The  incidents  of  this  most  •x*  .ordinary  A'oyage 
of  six-and-a-half  months  on  float uig  ice,  as  related  in 
the  diary  of  John  Herron,  are  given  in  a  subsequent 
cliapter,  and  in  all  the  records  of  adventure  there  is 
nothing  of  greater  interest. 

The  safe  deliverance  of  the  entire  party — men, 
AA'omen  and  children — seems  at  first  almost  a  miracle, 
but  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  sj)ecial  means  of 
escape  from  danger  Avhich  the  Frozen  Zone  furnishes. 
The  friendly  ice-floe  abounded  Avith  material  for 
building  shelter  from  the  storm  and  cold,  Avhile  it 
drifted  the  castaAvays   into  the   vicinity  of  passing 


mj 


730 


JOE   AKD   HANS. 


ships,  and  through  a  region  where  the  presence  of 
seal  and  other  Arctic  animals  enabled  the  skillful 
hunters,  Joe  and  Hans — to  whom  the  balance  of  the 
party  are  indebted  under  Providence  for  their  pres- 
ervation— to  eke  out  the  supply  of  provisions  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  exhausted.  In  any  other 
section,  a  boat's  crew  thus  left  in  mid-ocean  at  such  a 
distance  from  relief,  must  almost  certainly  have  per- 
ished. 


•  v*  'O 


; 


:>■.■,> 


; 


r-^.i'\ 


,■,..> 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 


JOURNAL  OF  HERMANN  SIEMANS,  A  SAH.. 
OR  OF  THE  STEAMER  POLARIS. 

Ajiong  the  articles  remaining  on  the  ice-floe  at  the 
time  when  the  Polaris  was  separated  from  a  portion 
of  its  crew,  was  a  diary  kept  from  the  commencement 
of  the  voyage  by  Hermann  Siemans.  This  diary  was 
picked  up  by  tTie  ice-drift  party,  and  has  special  inter- 
est from  the  wonderful  manner  in  Avhich  it  was  pre- 
served and  as  being  an  intelligent  histoiy  of  the 
expedition — as  far  as  it  goes — by  a  common  sailor  who 
had  the  foretliought  and  disposition  to  keep  a  record 
of  passing  events.  It  Avas  Avritten  in  German,  and 
has  been  translated  into  English  by  E.  R,  Knobb 
Esq.     The  most  interesting  portions  are  given  below. 

The  spirit  of  dependence  upon  Providence,  and  the 
habitual  recognition  of  God's  mercies  are  noticeable 
throughout,  wliile  the  petition  on  starting,  breathing 
the  spirit  of  resignation  to  whatever  might  occur,  is  a 
touching  indication  that  there  was  at  least  one  person 
in  the  expedition  of  strong  faith  and  fervent  prayer. 

PRATER   WHEN   STARTING.  '  • 

"  All-knowino  Father,  on  Thee  I  call  and  pray,  that 

Thou  mayest  look  upon  us  in  Thy  mercy  and  may  be 

731 


m 


;  •  n 


■4  ■    !l 


s  1  ! 


732 


JOURNAL  OF  HERMANN  SIEMANS. 


with  US  in  this  cmise  to  the  icy  North.  Thou  only 
knowest  whether  we  ever  on  earth  shall  see  again 
our  beloved,  or  whether  we  shall  soon  lay  down  our 
pilgrim's  staff.  I  pray  Thee  to  direct  the  hearts  of 
all  of  us,  that  all  on  this  ship  may  always  bo^v  before 
Thee.  Let  our  eyes  always  be  directed  toward  the 
heights  of  Golgotha,  where  Thou  hast  borne  the  bur- 
den of  our  sins.  Lead  us  to  endeavor  to  gain  that 
which  only  is  needed,  that  we  nay  all  say  together, 
we  know  that  our  Redeemer  liveth.  Then,  even  if 
the  iceberg  covers  our  mortal  part,  or  the  fierce  polar 
bear  tears  it,  we  shall  have  Thee,  Saviour,  the  best 
guide  of  our  heart's  ship.  Hear  my  j)rayer  in  Thy 
great  mercy,  and  for  the  Saviour  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 

June  29th. — At  6  p.  m.  we  left  New  York,  and  arrived  on 
the  following  day  at  11^  a.  m.,  at  New  London,  where  we 
dropped  anchor.  In  the  evening  we  had  divine  service  on 
board,  in  which  quite  a  number  of  members  of  the  Baptist 
congregation  participated. 

July  3d. — ^Wo  left  New  London,  with  fine  weather. 

Sunday,  9tli. — We  had  divine  service  from  11  to  12  a.  m., 
and  Captain  Hall  promised  to  have  it,  with  God's  aid,  every 
Sunday.  I  was  heartily  glad  that  the  name  of  our  Heavenly 
Father  should  thus  be  hallowed. 

Monday,  10th. — We  saw  the  coast  of  Newfoundland. 

11th. — Several  heavy  blocks  of  ice  were  passed.  At  noon, 
we  entered  the  harbor  of  Saint  John's,  in  which  there  were 
two  icebergs. 

On  the  19th,  we  left  Saint  John's,  with  God's  aid  all  well 
and  contented. 

On  the  27th,  we  saw  the  west  coast  of  Greenland  and  a 
great  number  of  icebergs — some  near  the  coast.  At  3  p.  m.  a 
pilot  boarded  us  in  a  kayak.  At  5:30  p.  m.  we  came  to  in 
the  harbor  of  Fiskernaes.  Greenland,  wliich  I  then  saw  for 
the  first  time,  is  truly  a  sterile,  mountainous  country.    This 


JOVBNAL   OF  HEBMANN  SILMAKS. 


733 


u  only 
}  again 
v^n  our 
arts  of 
before 
ard  the 
he  bur- 
lin  that 
jgether, 
even  if 
ce  polar 
he  best 
in  Thy 
it's  sake. 

rrlved  on 
wliera  we 
service  on 
le  Baptist 

ler. 
12  a.  m., 
aid,  every 
Heavenly 

land. 

At  noon, 
there  were 

id  all  well 

■land  and  a 
U  3  p.  m.  a 
came  to  in 
icu  saw  for 
itry.    This 


Danish  settlement  consists  of  twenty  houses  and  huts,  with 
ahout  seventy  people.  The  houses  of  the  governor  had  a 
decent  appearance,  being  of  wood ;  but  the  huts  of  the  Es- 
quimaux were  composed  of  pieces  of  sod,  with  so  low  an  en- 
trance that  the  people  could  only  creep  into  them ;  a  few 
were  covered  with  seal-skin ;  the  interior  looked  very  poor. 
The  natives  live  almost  entirely  on  fish ;  they  are  quite  Intel- 
ligent, and  there  is  more  brotherly  love  between  them  than 
in  many  Christian  communities.  Their  garments  are  made 
of  seal  and  reindeer  skin ;  their  boots  are  generally  lined 
with  feathers.  The  women  wear  jackets  and  pants  like  those 
of  the  male,  but  they  are  distinguished  by  a  black  head- 
cover,  through  the  top  of  which  the  hair  hangs  out  in  a  plait, 
interwoven  with  red  ribbon ;  they  also  wear  short  boots, 
while  those  of  the  men  are  long. 

Saturday,  29th. — We  left  Fiskernaes  with  beautiful  weather. 
At  four  hours  we  passed  Lichtenfels,  where  two  German 
missionaries  live. 

July  31st. — We  entered  the  harbor  of  Holsteinborg,  where 
we  counted  sixteen  huts  and  fifty  people. 

August  3d. — We  left  Holsteinborg,  and  in  the  morning  of 
the  4th  we  came  in  sight  of  Disco  Island.  At  2  p.  m.  a 
pilot  came  on  board,  and  at  3  p.  m.  we  anchored  off  Godhavn. 
This  settlement  contains  twenty-seven  houses,  with  about 
seventy  people. 

Sunday,  6th. — Captain  Hall  wit!  some  of  us  visited  the 
church,  where  also  thirty  Esquimaux  attended. 

10th. — The  United  States  ship  Congress  arrived  from  New 
York,  with  provisions  and  coal  for  us. 

17th. — We  received  some  Esquimaux  dogs,  which  are  to 
draw  the  sleighs  in  our  excursions.  At  noon.  Rev.  Newman 
of  Washington  and  Rev.  Bryan  of  the  Congress  came 
on  board ;  the  former  preached  a  sermon  and  prayed  with 
lis.  At  2  p.  m.  we  left  Godhavn  with  fair  weather,  and 
passed  the  same  day  many  icebergs,  which  compelled  us  to 
ctiange  frequently  the  course. 

On  the  18th,  we  entered  the  harbor  of  Upernavik.  This 
settlement  consists  of  twenty-two  houses,  inhabited  by  sixty 


\'^Vv\ 


734 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN   SIEMANS. 


people.  The  Esquimaux  appeared  more  dirty  the  farther 
north  we  came ;  most  of  them  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
smoked.  Here  Hans  came  on  board,  with  his  wife  and  three 
children. 

20th. — Toward  evening,  I  ascended  a  hill,  where  I  prayed 
some  hours  to  G-od  and  my  Redeemer,  and  thought  of  my 
distant  dear.  ,1  also  visited  the  burial-places,  which  lay  scat- 
tered over  the  mountains,  some  almost  near  the  tops,  where 
it  must  have  been  difficult  to  carry  the  bodies.  The  coffins 
of  rough  wood  were  merely  placed  on  the  surface,  and 
covered  with  rock.  The  weight  of  the  latter  had  burst  the 
lids  of  some,  so  that  the  bodies  could  be  seen.  The  Esqui- 
maux told  us  that  bodies  which  had  been  buried  very  many 
years  appeared  exactly  as  when  buried.  Fonnerly  the  law 
was,  among  the  Esquimaux,  that  at  the  death  of  the  parents, 
the  eldest  son  inherited  the  property.  It  is  said  that  some 
of  them  have  enticed  their  parents  into  the  mountains,  and 
then  thrown  stones  upon  them,  under  which  they  still  lie 
buried. 

21st. — We  received  on  board  eight  tons  of  coal,  and  more 
dogs  and  seal-skins.  At  Y  p.  m.  the  governor  came  onboard, 
intending  to  accompany  us  to  Teseuisak.  At  8  we  left  Up- 
ernavik  with  fair  weather,  and  arrived  at  11  off  Kingituk, 
where  the  captain  and  the  governor  lauded  to  visit  tlie  gov- 
ernor of  that  place,  retuniing  at  one  o'clock  with  twelve 
dogs.  "We  then  proceeded,  and  came  to  on  the  22d  in  Tessu- 
isak  Harbor, 

24rth. — We  left  Tessuisak,  the  northernmost  settlement. 
In  the  evening  of  the  25th,  we  narrowly  escaped  running  in 
the  darkness  with  full  steam-power  against  a  large  iceberg. 
In  the  night,  from  the  25th  to  the  26th,  we  were  surrounded 
closely  by  drift-ice  and  icebergs,  but  with  God's  aid  were 
able  to  work  through  them. 

On  the  2Tth,  we  passed  the  harbor  where  Kane  wintered  in 
1860  ;  and  at  9  p.  m.  the  winter  harbor  of  Kane  in  1853  to 
1855  bore  east,  distant  14  miles.  No  vessel  but  our  Polaris 
has  ever  penetrated  farther  north  on  the  west  coast  of  Green- 
land.   Proceeding  farther,  we  encountered  great  quantities 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN  8IEMAN8. 


735 


farther 
id  been 
id  three 

;  prayed 
t  of  my 
lay  8cat- 
8,  where 
18  coffins 
ace,  and 
bnrst  the 
le  Esqiii- 
3ry  many 
f  the  law 
e  parents, 
that  some 
tains,  and 
jy  still  lie 

and  more 
B  on  board, 
ve  left  Up- 

Ivingituk, 
lit  tlie  gov- 

ith  twelve 
:d  in  Tessu- 

Bcttlement. 
running  in 
go  iceberg. 
Bxirrounded 
's  aid  were 

wintered  in 
0  in  1853  to 
our  Polaris 
ist  of  Green- 
it  quantities 


of  ice,  through  which  we  pushed  on  north.  At  11  p.  m.  we 
passed  Cape  Constitution,  the  northernmost  point  reached  by 
Dr.  Kane,  in  1854,  in  sleighs,  where  he  believed  to  have  seen 
the  open  Polar  Sea.  On  the  29th,  we  reached  Capo  Lieber, 
discovered  in  1860  by  Hayes,  on  a  sleigh  excursion.  No  one 
has  ever  been  farther  on  the  Grinnell  Land  side ;  hero  our 
discoveries  were  to  begin.  The  distance  of  the  coasts  from 
each  other,  in  the  narrow  part  of  the  strait,  is  about  40  miles. 
The  land  is  mountainous  and  high.  At  4:  p.  m.  fog  set  in, 
and  at  6  we  were  compelled  to  stop  the  engines,  as  we  were 
surrounded  by  great  ice-fields,  to  one  of  which  we  fastened 
the  ship  by  ice-anchors  and  hawsers.  At  7  i">.  ni.  the  fog 
lifted,  and  we  could  see  both  coasts,  when  we  again  started, 
trying  to  press  through  the  ice,  with  which  the  ship  came  fre- 
quently in  collision.  It  was  very  cold,  the  wind  blowing  strong 
from  the  north.     We  worked  along  throughout  the  night  to 

6  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  30th,  when  we  saw  firm  ice 
from  one  coast  to  the  other.  Under  these  circumstances,  it 
became  important  to  look  for  a  winter  station,  but  there 
seemed  to  be  none  in  this  vicinity.  At  9.30  fog  set  in  again 
with  snow,  and  we  had  again  to  fasten  the  ship  to  a  floe, 
where  we  lay  to  7i  p.  m.,  when  we  saw  some  clear  water 
near  the  Greenland  coast,  for  which  wc  directed  our  course. 
Believing  to  see  a  small  bay,  a  boat  was  lowered  and  the 
place  examined,  but  it  proved  too  exiwsed  for  the  ship.  We 
worked  along  the  coast  until  midnight,  when  fog  compelled 
us  to  fasten  the  ship. 

31st. — We  started  and  continued  the  search  for  the  entire 
day,  but  in  vain.  At  4  p.  m.  we  directed  tlie  course  for  the 
Grinnell  Land  coast,  but  the  ice  prevented  us  from  reaching 
it.    At  5  p.  m.  we  made  fast  to  a  great  floe. 

September  Ist. — We  saw  in  the  morning  a  small  opening 
through  which  we  worked  the  vessel  about  the  distance  of  a 
mile  nearer  to  the  coast,  where  we  had  again  to  make  fast,  as 
we  could  then  not  move  the  ship  in  any  direction.     Toward 

7  p.  m.  a  strong  easterly  wind  arose,  setting  the  stream  with 
the  ice  against  us,  the  smaller  pieces  of  the  latter  drifting 
faster  than  the  floe  to  which  the  ship  was  tied.    This  pres- 


f'i 


ill  ■■: 


: 


736 


JOUBKAL   OF   HERMANN   SIEMANS. 


rare  broke  the  haweers  at  the  bow  and  tlie  stem,  and  lifted 
one  Bide  of  the  ship  almost  bodily  on  the  floe  to  M'hich  we 
lay,  imperiling  her  greatly.  As  the  ice  pressing  from  all 
sides  aronnd  ns  had  a  thickness  of  at  least  twenty  feet,  it  be- 
came imperative  to  provide  for  emergencies.  Provisions  and 
stores  were  carried  on  deck,  and  guns,  cartridges,  two  suits  foi 
each  person,  <&c.,  placed  within  easy  reach,  so  as  to  land  them 
on  the  ice  in  case  the  ship  should  be  crushed.  Toward  9 
p.  m.  the  wind  abated,  the  ice  ceased  to  press,  and  remained 
quiet  throughout  the  night.  The  following  day,  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  unshipped  the  propeller,  in  order  to  save  it  from  be- 
ing broken.  At  2  p.  m.  the  pressure  of  the  ice  began  again, 
huge  masses  approaching  the  ship.  All  hands  were  now  em- 
ployed landing  provisions  and  fuel  on  the  ice,  in  two  places, 
so  that  one  part  might  be  saved  in  case  the  ice  should  break 
near  the  other. 

Sunday,  3d. — Divine  service  was  attended  to  from  11  to  12, 
as  usual.  The  snow  fell  so  thickly  as  to  allow  us  only  occa- 
sionally to  see  the  coa  t  of  Greenland,  although  it  was  dis- 
tant only  two  miles.  We  now  drifted  quite  briskly  south. 
Ship  and  crew  appeared  to  be  a  ready  prey  to  the  ice.  But 
there  is  a  God  who  aids  and  saves  from  death ;  to  Ilim  I 
trusted  between  these  icebergs  and  ice-fields,  although  I  know 
that  I  do  not  deserve  all  the  good  He  grants  me. 

September  4th. — At  9  a.  m.  open  water  appeared  at  a  few 
places,  when  everything  was  quickly  shipped  again.  At  9.30 
p.  m.  steam  was  ready,  and  we  began  to  work  toward  the 
coast  cf  Greenland  where  the  wind  had  broken  the  ice  and 
caused  an  opening.  At  midnight  Captain  Hall  landed  with 
five  of  us,  and  planted,  in  the  name  of  the  LoTd,  and  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  American  flag  on  the  land 
which  we  had  discovered.  We  then  returned  on. board  and 
let  go  the  anchor  at  12.30  a.  m.  on  the  6th  of  September. 
■  The  place  examined  proved  to  be  but  a  bend  of  the  coast ; 
we  therefore  took  advantage  of  the  open  water  caused  by  the 
easterly  wind  along  the  coast,  and  resumed  our  searcii  for  a 
harbor  southward,  but  not  finding  any  better  place  ■we  re- 
turned in  the  Qvening  to  the  anchorage. 


1  lifted 
lich  we 
rora  all 
it,  it  be- 
ons  and 
Buits  foi 
nd  tliem 
oward  9 
einaiued 
;ie  rtiorn- 
from  be- 
an again, 
now  cm- 
iro  places, 
uld  break 

1 11  to  12, 
only  occa- 
it  was  dia- 
ikly  south, 
ice.  But 
to  Ilim  I 
igh  I  know 

3d  at  a  few 
At  9.30 
:oward  the 
he  ice  and 
anded  with 
and  for  the 
on  the  land 
..board  and 
September. 
;  the  coast; 
lUHcd  by  the 
search  for  a 
place  we  re- 


1 


JOURNAL   OF   HERMANN   SIEMANg. 


737 


7th. — We  lifted  the  anchor,  and  steamed  about  sixty  yards 
closer  in-shore,  behind  an  iceberg  which  had  grounded  in  13 
fathoms  wt*ter,  and  promised  to  protect  us  against  southerly 
and,  in  part,  also  westerly  winds. 

Sunday,  10th. — We  could  not  use  boats  any  longer,  and  in 
a  few  hours  the  ice  grew  thick  enough  to  carry  us  with  the 
food  for  the  dogs,  that  had  been  housed  on  shore.  After 
divine  service.  Captain  Hall  told  us  that  he  would  call  the 
place  Thank  God  Harbor,  as  the  Lord  had  not  only  carried 
us  through  tlie  dangers  of  the  ice,  but  also  protected  us 
against  the  imminent  peril  of  an  explosion  of  the  snuiU  boil- 
ers, which  had  not  been  fed  with  water,  through  the  neglect 
of  the  tireman. 

11th. — The  ice  had  grown  so  firm  that  we  could  employ 
the  sleighs. 

The  12th  was  cold,  and  snow  fell,  the  wind  blowing  strong. 
Until  then  the  twilight  had  remained  on  the  southern  horizon 
throughout  the  nights,  but  these  now  grew  longer,  and  soon 
we  would  have,  in  the  midst  of  the  Greenland  mountains, 
the  long  winter  night.  But  why  should  we  fear  the  darkness 
around  us,  if  light  remains  only  in  our  hearts  ?  Yes,  my 
Lord,  if  I  have  only  Thee,  I  do  not  care  for  heaven  or  earth. 

Sunday,  17th. — After  divine  service.  Captain  Hall  enjoined 
us  to  work  hand  in  hand,  like  brethren,  in  order  to  reach  our 
aim  for  which  we  had  started,  lie  said  that  he  firmly  be- 
lieved it  to  be  God's  will  that  all  of  the  wonderful  earth  not 
yet  known  should  be  discovered. 

18th. — Dr.  Bessels,  with  the  first  mate,  Joe,  and  Hans, 
fitaited  on  a  sleigh,  drawn  by  eight  dogs,  on  a  hunting  excur- 
sion. 

On  the  23d,  the  sun  showed  a  large  halo.  At  divine  ser- 
vice, on  Sunday  the  24th,  the  sermon  and  prayer  were  read 
by  Mr.  Bryan ;  they  had  been  prepared  by  Kev.  Dr.  New- 
man expressly  for  the  exped-tion.  At  2  p.  m.  the  hunting 
party  of  Dr.  Bessels  returned  with  a  musk-ox. 

October  1st.  (Sunday.) — The  gale  ceased,  and  the  weather 
remained  beautiful  throughout  the  day.  After  divine  service, 
Captain  Hall  informed  us  we  were,  from  that  day,  to  assemble 


1' 


'       '1.  'I 


ill 


i 


Ml 


I  ■, 


738 


JOURNAL   OF  IIEBMANN    8IEMANS. 


each  morning  at  8.30  in  his  cabin  for  prayer.  How  good  it 
is  to  81  -vo  under  a  commander  ii  \','ho8e  heart  the  Saviour 
has  begun  the  work  1  Wo  should  always  bear  in  mind  that 
each  day  and  each  hour  carries  us  nearer  to  the  end  of  our 
pilgrimage,  where  we  have  to  lay  down  our  staif.  I  pray 
the  Lord  to  open  my  eyes  that;  I  may  look  to  Ilim  with  spir- 
ited confidence. 

9th. — After  much  labor  we  now  had  carried  all  our  things 
safely  on  the  hill.  About  noon  of  this  day,  Captain  Hall, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Chester,  Joe,  'iid  Hans,  started  on  two 
sleighs  drawn  by  sixteen  dogs  n  nr  expedition  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reconnoitering  in  the  direcuou  toward  the  pole. 

IStlir — One  boat  had  already  been  transported  to  the  shore; 
we  now  cai-ried  there  a  second,  also  coal,  wood,  and  other 
things,  so  that  a  stock  would  bu  un  shore  in  case  an  accident 
should  happen  to  the  vessel.  Up  to  then  all  hands  were  in 
good  health,  for  which  I  daily  thanked  the  Lord.  God,  I 
pray  Thee,  let  me  always  be  obedient  to  the  teachings  of  Thy 
holy  word  with  ever  greater  cheerfulness.  May  never  doubt 
or  mockery  destroy  the  consolation  alive  in  my  breast.  Let 
my  whole  life  be  a  praise  of  Thee.  The  earth  is  everywhere 
the  Lord's ;  there  is  evidence  even  in  the  highest  North  that 
an  almighty  and  all-wise  Creator  has  made  it. 

13th. — We  saw  the  sun  rise  for  the  last  time  in  1871. 

18tli. — Began  building  a  snow-wall  around  the  ship. 

21st. — We  spread  over  the  ship  a  snow-tent  of  stout  sail- 
cloth, leaving  only  a  small  opening  for  ingress.  Daylight 
shortened  rapidly. 

Tuesday,  the  24th,  at  1.30  p.  ra.,  Captain  Hall  returned 
with  Mr.  Chester,  Joe,  and  Hans.  Captain  Hall  had  not 
felt  well  for  the  last  three  days,  and  laid  down  to  bed  imme- 
diately. He  vomited,  had  cramps,  and  a  violent  headache. 
They  had  encountered  on  the  expedition  severe  cold,  and 
nufifered  greatly.  They  had  not  been  able  to  go  farther  than 
fifty  miles  from  the  ship  in  a  N.E.  direction. 

28th. — It  grew  dangerous  with  the  captain,  his  illness  in- 
creasing steadily.  Prayers  and  divine  service  were  held  for- 
ward for  his  recovery.    The  prayers  which  I  sent  incessantly 


r  good  it 
Saviour 
lind  tliat 
d  of  our 
,  1  pray 
vitli  spir- 

ur  things 
ain  Hall, 
d  on  two 
r  tl>e  piir- 
pole. 

the  shore ; 
and  other 
,n  accident 
»dB  were  iti 
d.  God,  I 
ngs  of  Tliy 
lever  doubt 
)reast.  Let 
everywhere 
North  that 

1871. 
Bhip. 

f  Btout  Bail- 
Daylight 

all  returned 
all  had  not 
)  bed  imme- 
it  headache, 
re  cold,  and 
farther  than 

lis  illness  in- 
ere  held  for- 
t  incessantly 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN    8IEMANS. 


m 


to  the  throne  of  the  Almighty  did  not  satisfy  me ;  I,  poor 
sinner,  was  anxious  to  kneel  with  him  before  God,  and  to 
pray  for  mercy. 

Nov.  let. — The  captain  appeared  to  grow  better,  as  he  spoke 
as  sensibly  as  any  uf  us. 

2d. — Tlie  weather  was  beautiful  and  calm,  although  severely 
cold.  The  snow-wall  around  the  ship  was  seven  to  eight  feet 
thick,  and  of  the  same  height  as  the  snow-tent.  The  snow 
was  carried  to  the  ship  in  sleighs  from  banks  which  formed 
sometimes  near  the  bhip,  sometimes  at  a  distance  from  it. 

Nov.  5th. — Captain  Hall  grew  again  worse  ;  in  the  Avander- 
ings  of  his  mind  he  said  that  somebody  intended  to  shoot  or 
poison  him. 

On  the  7th,  Captain  Hall  lay  in  a  very  miserable  state,  the 
entire  body  being  insensible  to  the  touch.  In  tlie  evening 
he  was  entirely  unconscious  of  what  occurred  around  him  or 
was  done  with  him.  At  3.25  on  the  morning  of  Xov.  8th,  his 
Boul  left  the  mortal  body.  After  his  death  a  coffin  was  im- 
mediately made,  into  which  he  was  placed  at  4  p.  m.  We 
also  began  to  dig  a  grave,  working  at  it  Wednesday  and 
Thursday.  The  earth  was  mixed  with  rock,  and  frozen  so 
hard  that,  although  using  axes  and  pikes,  we  could  dig  only 
two  feet  deep.     It  was  done  with  the  light  of  a  lanteni. 

Friday,  tho  lOth,  at  11.30  a.  m.,  we  placed  the  coqise  into 
the  ground.  Captain  Hall  had  reached,  as  I  was  told,  the 
age  of  iifty  years.  His  body  rests  in  the  far  North,  where  no 
civilized  human  being  has  ever  laid  down  his  head  for  eternal 
rest,  as  the  i:)lace  lies  5C2  n;iles  from  the  North  Pole.  Thus 
his  wish  to  die  in  the  far  North,  and  to  rest  where  he  had 
lived  eight  years,  has  been  fulfilled.  May  his  remains  lie  in 
peace  till  the  day  of  resurrection. 

Sunday,  the  l!)th,  after  divine  service  Captain  Bord  (Bud- 
dington  ?)  announced  that  the  morning  prayers  would  bo  dis- 
continued, as  Mr.  Bryan  was  otherwise  engaged ;  each  should 
pray  by  himself.  I,  jioor  benighted  sinner,  must  confess  that 
I  have  to  contend  many  an  hour  with  enemies  within  myself 
and  outside,  but  hope  does  not  Ipave  me.  When  kneeling 
fer  north  in  a  dark  corner,  or  beneath  the  starry  heaven  on  » 


111 


;  i 


1)    .* 


aj:V 


740 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN   8IEMAN9. 


!^! 


I 


floe,  I  look  with  confidence  to  the  mountains  from  which  I 
expect  aid.  Although  not  being  able  to  show  a  Bingle  deed 
by  which  I  may  stand  before  the  just  Judge,  I  trust  to  the 
Lord's  mercy. 

Monday,  the  20th,  at  4  in  the  morning,  intending  to  examine 
the  tide-gauge,  I  was  carried  away  by  the  storm  and  thrown 
upon  the  ice,  whicli  was  covered  with  water;  only  with  great 
difiiculty  rould  I  reach  the  opening  where  the  observations 
were  made.  The  snow-drift  did  hardly  permit  oj^eniug  the 
eyes.  It  blew  so  violently  that  the  ship  was  thrown  upon 
one  side,  bursting  the  snow-wall.  At  9  a.  m.,  Mr.  Meyer  left 
the  vessel  to  look  tor  Dr.  Eessels,  who  had  been  till  night  in 
the  observatory  on  shore ;  he  was  driven  back  al>out  twenty 
times  while  endeavoring  to  creep  up  the  hill,  but  finally  reached 
the  house.  Joe  and  Hans  followed,  and  at  10.30  all  fouj"  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  ship. 

2l6t. — At  b  a.  m.,  the  ico  broke  all  around  us,  and  we  were 
in  great  peril ;  the  snow-drift,  besides,  made  it  so  dark  that 
we  could  not  see  anything  at  a  distance  of  five  paces.  We 
let  go  the  second  anchor;  no\erthcless,  the  ship  drifted,  but 
luckily  toward  the  iceberg  near  which  we  lay,  and  which  had 
been  named  by  Captain  Ilall,  Providence  Mount.  Some  of 
us  jumped  over  the  few  tloes  between  us  and  the  iceberg, 
climbed  upon  it,  and  succeeded  in  fastening  three  ice-anchors, 
to  which  the  ship  was  secured  by  hawsers. 

25th. — In  order  to  bring  the  ship,  which  tinis  far  lay  at  the 
extreme  of  the  iceberg,  more  toward  the  center  of  its  long  side, 
where  it  would  be  better  ])rotected,  an  opening  was  sawed 
into  the  ice,  through  which  she  was  moved  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet. 

Sundaj',  the  26th,  divine  service  was  held,  but  Captain 
Bord  announced  tlnit  atteiulance  was  not  compulsory,  but  he 
would  prefer  tiiat  all  should  attend. 

2!Sth. — At  8  p.  m.  a  snow-storm  set  in  from  S,  S.W.,  which 
soon  grew  violent,  and  at  1  o'clock  had  attained  a  force  of 
fort^'-two  miles  per  hour,  pressing  the  ice  from  the  strait 
against  our  iceberg,  which  burst  and  parted  in  two ;  thua 
weakened,  it  was  pushed  against  the  ship,  shaking  her  all 


JOURNAL   OF   HERMANN   BIEJIANS. 


741 


ivhiclx  I 
pie  deed 
;  to  the 

examine 
.  thrown 
ith  great 
ervations 
iiing  the 
wn  upon 
lever  left 
night  m 
It  twenty 
ly  reached 
1  fom*  Buc- 


(1  ^ve  were 

dark  that 

,aees.     We 

1  rifted,  hut 

wliichhad 

Sonic  of 

le  Iceberg, 

ce-anehors, 

111-  hiy  at  the 
s  long  Bide, 
was  sawed 
indred  and 

Mit  Captain 
)ry,  but  he 

,W.,  which 
11  f(in.'e  of 
|i  the  strait 
tw(.) ;  thus 


im 


,r  her  all 


over  and  making  her  crack  in  all  seams.  AVith  ebb-tide  the 
ship  keeled  over  on  one  side,  while  the  foot  of  the  iceberg 
pushed  beneath  her,  so  as  to  raise  her  two  and  a  half  feet. 
She  careened  so  heavily  that  it  was  difficult  to  walk  on  deck. 
In  this  perilous  condition  it  was  thought  proper  to  carry 
apparel  and  other  stores  on  shore,  as  also  to  placo  the  Esqui- 
maux women  and  children  in  the  observatory. 

13tli. — There  has,  perhaps,  never  been  an  expedition  the 
members  of  which  did  live  so  peacefully  as  we,  Tlie  Navy 
Department  had  directed  that,  in  case  of  Captain  Hall's  death, 
Captain  Buddington  should  take  command  of  the  shii)  and 
Dr.  Bessels  direct  the  scientific  matters  and  the  sleigh  expedi- 
tions. Should  the  two  disagree,  Captain  Buddington  had  to 
carry  the  vessel  home  as  directly  as  ])ossible.  As  long  as 
Captain  Buddington  held  the  command,  he  treated  every- 
body properly  ;  the  first  officer  is  also  an  honorable  man,  who 
knows  how  to  handle  people. 

Sunday  the  '24:th. — In  the  evening  (Christmas  Eve)  all 
hands  were  invited  into  the  cabin,  but  I  did  not  feel  at  home 
there,  Ca])taiu  Ilall  not  being  any  more  in  our  midst. 

On  Christmas-day,  the  25th,  the  weather  was  tine.  I  was 
astonislied  that  there  was  no  divine  service,  but,  1  believe,  in 
America  it  is  more  of  a  feast-day  than  a  holy-day. 

28th. — The  ship  still  careened  somewhat  with  the  ri!~e  and 
fall  of  tide,  as  part  of  the  keel  was  still  resting  on  the  foot 
of  the  iceberg.  We  tried  to  break  the  latter  by  blasting,  but 
did  not  succeed,  the  ice  being  too  strong. 

January  1st,  1872. — I  thanked  the  Heave  ily  Father,  M-ho 
stood  by  us  last  year  through  so  many  ])eiils,  and  granted  us 
to  live  into  the  new  year,  except  the  dear  captain,  C.  F.  Hall, 
who  now  rests  in  the  cold  earth  of  (ireenland. 

24th. — Dr.  Bessels,  with  two  of  the  crew,  loft  tho  vessel  in 
a  sleigh  drawn  by  eight  dogs,  to  ascertain  how  far  the  open 
water  extended  nortii ;  they  could  only  proceed  nine  miles 
nori  h  of  the  vessel,  where  the  watei'  was  still  perfectly  open  ; 
their  further  ])rogresa  was  stopped  by  a  cape,  which  they 
could  not  pass  nor  climb,  as  it  was  too  steep  and  too  much 
covered  by  ice.    At  5  p.  m.  thoy  returnou  ou  board. 


liii-M 


;t         i 


'r.-^ 


.<; 


S: 


^lil 


U2 


JOTJIINAL  OF  HERMANN   SIEMAN8. 


:l  'IM 


:3i  t 


Feb.  28th — At  noon  we  saw  the  sun  for  the  first  time  in  1872, 
after  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  days  of  darlcness.  It  was 
truly  a  long  dreary  night  which  we  had  passed,  by  the  Lord's 
aid,  in  midst  of  icebergs  and  ice-fields.  That  day  I  visited 
Captain  Hall's  grave,  as  T  iiad  frequently  done.  How  would 
he  have  enjoyed  it  to  see  again  God's  sun. 

April  8th — Dr.  Bessel's  party  returned  ;  all  well,  bringing 
as  trophies  the  carcasses  of  a  seal  and  a  polar  bear.  After 
the  examination  of  the  fiord  and  starting  back  TU)i\'h,  Joe  sud- 
denly saw  the  bear ;  both  jumped  from  the  sleigh  with  their 
rifles,  taking  hold  of  the  dogs,  Joe  of  five,  the  doctor  of  three. 
But  these,  when  they  saw  the  fierce  beast  coming  towai.ls 
them,  conld  not  be  kept  back,  and  had  to  be  set  loose,  when 
tliey  at  once  made  furiously  for  the  bear.  After  fighting 
them  for  five  minutes,  the  latter  made  for  Joe,  who  allowed 
it  to  approach  within  sixty  paces,  when  he  fired,  reloaded 
quickly,  and  with  a  second  ball  finished  the  beast,  which  had 
just  started  for  him  again  atTter  recovering  froin  the  shock. 
Two  of  the  dogs  had  kept  back,  but  the  other  six  fought 
bravely  ;  one  of  them  was  thrown  by  a  blow  from  the  paw 
of  the  powerful  beast  so  violently  against  an  icc-clum])  that 
it  was  left  for  dead  on  tiie  place,  but  the  next  morning  it  liad 
returned  to  the  snow-hut. 

June  5th — The  ship  rising  steadily  above  the  ice  under  the 
influence  of  the  warm  weather,  which  now  melted  the  snow 
and  ice  rapidly,  we  discovered  a  dangerous  leak  on  the  star- 
board side  of  the  stem  at  the  six-foot  mark,  where  two  plunks 
had  s])lit  from  the  careening  of  the  ship. 

6th. — We  endeavored  to  stop  the  leak,  but  could  not  do 
much,  as  the  stem  proved  to  have  broken  too  deep  below  the 
■water-line. 

10th. — Preparations  were  mode  for  anotlior  expedition  in 
the  patent  sailcloth  boat,  and  in  the  afternoon  Dr.  Bessels, 
Capt.  Tyson  and  foin*  men  left  in  it. 

The  Polaris  wo  will  hardly  keep  afloat,  as  she  settles  by  de- 
grees deeper  the  more  the  iceupofJi  which  the  ship  rests  melts. 
6he  now  makes  considerable  water,  and  there  are  probably 
luore  damaged  places  under  the  bow  beneath  the  water-line. 


1872, 
[t  was 
Lord's 
visited 
would 

ringing 
After 
oe  sud- 
tU  their 
)f  three, 
towai  Is 
13,  when 
lighting 

allowed 
reloaded 
liich  had 
le  Bhoclc. 
X  fought 
I  the  paw 
,\m\])  that 

ng  it  had 

inider  the 
tho  snow 
i\  tho  star- 
wo  planks 

Id  not  do 
below  the 

leditlon  in 
)r.  Bcsseb, 

ttles  by  de- 
[•C8t8  melts. 
•e  prohably 
water-line. 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN   SIEMA^-S. 


743 


12th. — "We  left  the  ship  and  reached  at  noon  the  place  north 
cf  Cape  Liibken  where  our  boats  stood. 

15th. —  The  Ptronjsij  wind  having  opened  the  water  consider- 
ably, we  pushed  the  boat  into  the  water  and  rowed  until  Y 
iu  the  evening,  when  we  reached  the  other  party,  which  had 
left  Monday,  on  a  great  ice-field,  at  the  mouth  of  Newman's 
Bay,  where  the  ice  had  not  yet  broken  up. 

23d. — In  the  morning  we  at  last  saw,  nortli  of  us,  a  strip  of 
open  water,  and  left  the  field  immediately,  but  had  hardly 
rowed  two  and  a  half  miles  when  heavy  pack-ioe  advanced 
upon  us  rapidly.  As  wo  could  not  find  in  the  vicinity  an 
ice-field  for  a  station,  the  harder  of  the  firm  ice  being  covered 
by  packed  ice,  we  were  compelled  to  row  back  half  a  mile, 
where  we  met  one,  and  had  barely  time  to  draw  the  boat 
upon  it.  The  other  party  had  done  the  same  half  a  mile  south 
of  us. 

26th  and  27th. — Stormy,  with  snow-squalls  and  fog,  the  ice 
continually  drifting  south.  As  provisions  became  short  and 
the  fuel  was  almost  entirely  consumed,  R.  Kriiger  and  I,  at 
Mr.  Chester's  wish,  started  for  an  attempt  of  reaching  the 
ship  by  the  land,  in  order  to  get  more  provisions.  We  went 
by  Newman's  Bay,  and  it  was  truly  a  severe  task  to  climb 
over  the  high  mountains  and  through  the  deep  ravines  where 
the  sharp  stones,  split  by  the  frost,  cut  through  our  Esqui- 
maux boots.  We  made  the  di-stance,  however,  in  twelve 
hours.  The  ice  in  Polaris  Bay  had,  for  the  greater  part, 
broken  up,  and  the  vessel  lay  in  open  water,  in  her  old  berth 
close  to  Providence  Mount,  which  still  was  aground ;  but  she 
wjvs  in  a  poor  condition,  making  so  nnich  water  that  the  pumps 
had  to  be  worked  for  sixteen  hours  out  of  twenty-four.  As 
there  were  nbw,  besides  the  cook  and  we  two,  no  sailors  on 
hoard  able  to  steer  tho  vessel,  Captain  Buddington,  would 
not  perniit  us  to  leave  again ;  he  attempted  to  take  the  vessel 
to  the  boats,  as  the  water  appeared  to  be  pretty  open.  At 
noon  of  that  day,  the  ice-anchors  were  taken  in  and  the  ship 
proceeded  north  with  steam  and  under  sail,  but  M'e  had  hardly 
made  half  the  distance  to  Newman's  Bay  when  she  was 
brought  up  by  great  ice-fields  and  heavily-packed  ice  drifting 


ifr 


i 


.4^-:    * 


744 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN   BIEMAN8. 


down  upon  her.  During  the  niglit  she  was  permitted  to  drift 
under  shortened  sail  with  the  ice  in  the  strait  to  the  south- 
ward. 

29th. — In  the  morning,  we  again  attempted  to  push  on 
north,  but  failed.  At  11  a.  m.  Hans  was  landed  at  a  ravine 
north  of  Cape  Liibken,  in  order  to  inform  Mr.  Chester  and 
Captain  Tyson  that  they  must  come  with  their  boats  back  on 
board  as  early  as  possible.  The  ship  then  returned  to  Provi- 
dence Mount. 

30th. — We  succeeded  by  great  labor,  in  fishing  the  anchor 
which  had  now  been  lying  on  the  bottom  for  nine  months 
and  had  imbedded  deeply  into  the  mud. 

July  1st. — We  set  Captain  IlaU's  grave  in  order,  covering 
it  with  stones,  so  that  the  earth  could  not  bo  blown  off,  and 
planting  a  sign-board  with  the  name  cut  in.  That  was  the 
last  we  could  do  for  our  beloved  commander. 

At  8  p.  m.  Dr.  Bessels  returned  with  Hans  from  Newman's 
Bay.  They  had  a  hard  travel  for  twenty -seven  hours,  having 
searched  long  in  a  ravine  for  a  place  where  they  could  climb 
up,  but  with  great  difficulty.  Mr.  Chester,  having  besides 
Mr.  Meyer  only  two  men,  was  anxious  that  another  should 
be  sent  him  ;  but  Captain  Buddington  thought  the  land-route 
to  be  now  too  dangerous,  as  the  water  had  begun  to  pour 
powerfully  from  the  mountains  into  the  great  ravine,  lie 
preferred  another  attempt  to  reach  the  party  with  the  ship, 
starting  at  midnight  under  steam  and  sail. 

At  1  o'clock  the  wind  changed  to  a  gale  from  the  N.,  and 
at  2  p.  m.,  not  having  made  half  the  distarce,  Ave  came  to 
the  border  of  ice,  which,  closely  packed,  was  drifting  against 
us.  The  coast  was  there  too  steep  to  climb  it.  We  set  sail, 
and  permitted  the  vessel  to  drift.  At  noon  of  the  following 
day  we  were  off  the  ravine  where  Hans  had  been  landed 
before.  As  one  man  could  not  go  well  alone,  I  was  sent  with 
him.  Considerable  snow  was  still  lying  on  the  mountains. 
We  landed  at  1  p.  m.  with  a  tmall  sleigh  fortrans])orting  the 
bread,  fuel,  and  other  small  things  which  the  party  was  in 
need  of,  but  we  had  not  gone  the  third  part  of  the  distance 
when  the  sleigh  broke,  and  we  were  compelled  to  carr/  each 


to  drift 

BOUth- 

ush  on 

ravine 

iter  and 

back  on 

0  Provi- 

e  anchor 
;  months 

covering 

1  off,  and 
;  was  the 

Nfewman's 
.1-3,  having 
uld  climb 
\(T  besides 
ler  should 
land-route 
u  to  pour 
iviue.     He 
the  ship, 

\e  N.,  and 
e  came  to 
itig  against 
le  set  sail, 
)  following 
.en  landed 
iis  Bont  with 

mountains, 
iporting  the 
arty  was  in 

10  d' stance 
carr/  each 


JOUBNAL   OF   HERMANN  8IEMAN8. 


U6 


sixty  to  seventy  pounds  on  our  backs  over  tiie  steep  mountains 
and  through  the  deep  ravines.  It  was  the  most  trying  travel 
I  ever  liad  in  ray  life.  In  some  of  the  ravines  the  water 
reached  almost  to  our  arm-pits,  and  we  had  then  to  climb  up 
their  sides  on  our  hands  and  knees ;  but  with  God's  aid  we 
reached,  at  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Thursday,  tlie  4th  of 
July,  safely,  the  boat,  after  thirty-nine  hours,  during  thirty- 
eight  of  which  I  had  no  dry  foot.  Since  we  had  left  them 
they  had  no  chance  to  move  either  north  or  south.  "We 
carried  a  letter  of  Captain  Buddington  to  IMr.  Chester,  in 
which  tlie  former  stated  that  if,  after  consultation  with  Captain 
Tyson,  they  chose  to  continue  their  attempt  of  pushing  north 
in  the  boats  he  was  not  the  man  to  prevent  it,  but  in  his 
opinion  it  was  preferable  that  they  should  return  on  board, 
as  there  was  better  prospect  to  push  on  north  in  the  steamer, 
should  a  chance  offer,  than  in  the  boats  ;  we  would  then  be 
able  to  free  the  ship  from  the  water  by  the  hand-pumps 
instead  of  the  pumps  connected  with  the  engine,  the  coals  for 
which  were  almost  exhausted. 

July  5th. — Mr.  Chester  was  anxious  to  reach  in  the  boats 
at  least  the  83d  degree  of  latitude,  from  whence  he  intended 
to  proceed  farther  with  the  sleighs  on  Grinnell  Land,  which 
extended  north  ;  but  Captain  Tyson  preferred  to  go  on  board, 
after  securing  his  boat  and  stores  on  the  southern  coast  of 
Newman's  Bay  in  a  ravine,  one  and  a  half  miles  inside  of 
Cape  Sumner,  It  took  from  Friday,  11  a.  m.,  to  Saturday, 
9  p.  m.,  to  move  the  boat  with  the  stores  to  the  ])lace  selected 
by  Captain  Tyson,  in  which  two  men  narrowly  escaped 
drowning,  Uaving  thus  secured  the  boat,  Captain  Tyson's 
party  went  overland  on  I)oard.  In  the  succeeding  night  rain 
fell  some  hours,  for  the  Urst  time  in  1872. 

10th. — At  4  p.  m.  the  ice  opened  a  little  to  the  southward, 
and  Mr.  Chester  concluded  to  take  advantage  of  it  for  going 
on  board,  as  there  appeared  to  be  now  no  chances  whatever 
for  proceeding  north  in  the  boat.  At  G  p.  m.  the  boat  was 
pushed  into  the  water,  and  we  started,  but  had  hardly  rowed 
two  and  a  half  miles  when  we  were  compelled,  on  account 
of  the  drift-ice  besetting  us  again  closely,  to  draw  the  boat 
on  a  small  ice-field. 


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i 

'iii''1 

tliii 

;J: 


746 


JOXTRSAL  OF   nERMATTN"  SIEMANS. 


13th. — There  being  no  prospect  that  tne  ice  would  soon 
open  and  allow  us  to  proceed,  Mr.  Chester  deemed  it  advisa- 
ble to  land  the  boat  and  stores  by  the  sleighs  and  take  us  on 
board  overland.  At  2.30  p.  m.  everything  was  on  the  sleighs, 
and  we  started.  The  wind  increased  and,  together  with  the 
roughness  of  the  ice,  made  progress  so  diflficult  that  it  became 
necessary  to  lighten  the  sleighs ;  we  dropped  the  sleeping-bags 
and  some  clothing.  When  half  a  mile  from  the  shore,  we  left 
the  sleighs  in  order  to  get  the  things  which  we  had  dropped, 
and  land  them  first.  An  hour  after  midnight,  at  last,  we 
reached  the  land  at  Captain  Tyson's  boat,  thoroughly  wet 
and  almost  broken  down.  To  save  the  sleigh  and  boat  now 
was  impossible,  as  it  blew  so  violently,  with  snow  and  rain 
squalls,  that  at  times  we  could  hardly  keep  on  our  feet.  We 
pitched  the  tents  of  Captain  Tyson,  took  a  scanty  meal,  and 
lay  down.  But  soon  the  tents  were  blown  away.  We  then 
lay  down  in  the  boat,  which  had  a  canvas  cover.  There  was, 
however,  but  little  rest  for  us,  as  in  the  morning  (14th)  the 
boat,  with  everything  in  it,  we  included,  was,  by  a  terrible 
squall,  carried  a  distance  over  the  ground  and  thrown  against 
rocks,  by  which  two  planks  were  broken,  so  that  it  now  had 
a  great  hole  in  the  bottom.  We  quickly  jumped  out  tc 
secure  it,  but  it  was  caught  by  another  gust  and  turned  bot- 
tom up.  By  drawing  a  line  several  fold  around  the  boat  and 
fastening  the  ends  to  heavy  rocks  we  finally  succeeded  in 
securing  it.  A  quantity  of  clothing  and  light  things,  how- 
ever, had  been  blown  into  the  water.  We  then  curried  the 
tents  a  distance  into  the  ravine,  v/here  we  pitched  them 
under  the  lee  of  the  cliffs,  and  could  now,  at  9  p.  m.,  seek 
the  rest  we  so  badly  needed. 

15th. — During  the  night,  the  ice  had  parted  entirely  from 
the  coast,  so  that  we  conld  not  get  at  our  boat  and  the  sleigh. 

16th. — We  tried  in  vain  to  reach  the  boat.  As  there  was 
no  chance  for  it  before  the  wind  would  veer  round  to  the 
north  and  set  the  ice  again  to  the  shore,  Mr.  Chester  directed 
Meyer,  Jainke,  and  Kruger  to  go  on  board,  while  he  and  I 
remained  to  save  the  beat,  if  possible,  with  the  Ixtrd's  will. 

17th. — Mr.  Chester  and  I  went  along  the  coast  trying  to 


JOURNAL   OP  fiERMANN   SIEMANS. 


747 


soon 
ivisa- 
\i8  on 
eighs, 
h  the 
ecame 
g-bags 
we  left 
apped, 
ist,  we 
ily  wet 
vt  now 
id  rain 
t.    "We 
jal,  and 
re  then 
;re  was, 
tth)  the 

terrible  ' 
I  against 
low  had 
I  out  tc 
led  bot- 

3oat  and 
ceded  in 
,  how- 

ried  the 
Lcd  them 

m.,  seek 

rely  from 
he  sleigh. 
;hcre  was 
id  to  the 
sr  directed 
he  and  I 
rd's  will- 
trying  to 


find  a  place  where  we  could  get  to  the  boat.  At  Cape  Sum- 
mer, we  at  last  espied  a  chance  and  succeeded  happily, 
although  with  great  danger,  in  crossing  the  broken  ice  and 
reaching  the  field  upon  which  our  boat  was  still  standing ;  at 
6  p.  m.  it  was  safely  on  the  shore. 

July  22d. — As  the  strait  continued  to  be  beset  by  ice,  and 
our  provisions  began  to  fail,  Mr.  Chester  concluded  to  go 
with  me  oh  board  the  ship,  leaving  the  boat,  with  its  contents, 
where  it  now  was.     We  reached  the  ship  at  11.20  p.  m. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  pressure  of  the  packed  ice, 
which  had,  by  the  southwesterly  gales,  been  driven  in  great 
quantities  into  Polaris  Bay,  Providence  Mount  had,  on  the 
20th  during  the  flood-tide,  parted,  and  the  broken  pieces 
had  pressed  the  vessel  upon  the  strand,  where  at  low  water 
she  had  been  lying  so  much  on  one  side  that  the  water  almost 
reached  the  deck.  But  when  we  came  on  board  she  had, 
with  God's  help,  been  floated  again,  aud  appeared  not  to  have 
been  damaged  by  it. 

25th. —  In  the  afternoon  Captain  Buddington  disconnected 
the  pumps  of  the  engine  and  divided  all  hands,  the  women 
and  children  excepted,  into  three  watches,  each  of  four  hours, 
for  pumping  by  hand.  But  after  having  been  ashore  she 
made  not  so  mwh  water  by  far  as  previously,  some  of  the 
parted  seams  having  probably  closed  again. 

August  12th. — In  the  morning,  the  wife  of  Hans  gave 
birth  to  a  boy. 

In  the  afternoon  the  ice  began  to  loosen  and  some  strips  of 
open  water  appeared.  At  4.40  p.  m.  the  vessel  left  Polaris 
Bay  with  northerly  wind.  We  worked  during  the  succeed- 
ing night,  with  great  difficurty,  through  the  ice  until  8  a.  m. 
of  the  next  day,  when  we  were  compelled,  by  the  density  of 
the  ice,  to  fasten  the  vessel  to  a  large  floe  near  a  small  island 
on  the  Grinnell  Land  side.  We  were  now  without  ground- 
tackle.  The  boats  left  at  Newman's  Bay  we  missed  very 
badly.  We  drifted  that  day  with  the  ice  slowly  to  the  south- 
ward, there  being  no  wind,  and  the  weather  beautiful.  In 
the  night,  when  wo  saw  near  us  a  strip  of  open  water  which 
Appeared  to  extend  several  miles  to  the  southward,  wo  made 


III 
ill 

If! 

'.:i  ii  ij 

illi 
i^  i  1 

ffi    TJ-I*       'J       f  I 


Hi,., 


Pt:| 


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.A 


\  '•■'■ 


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.1 


M 


748 


JOURNAL   OF   HEBMAITN   SIEMAKS. 


repeated  attempts,  with  the  fall  power  of  the  engine,  to  break 
through  the  ice  surrounding  us,  but  could  not  succeed,  and 
had  to  tie  the  vessel  up  again. 

14th. — At  2  p.  m.  we  passed  Cape  Constitution,  in  latitude 
80^  30'  N.,  and  worked  steadily  on  until  11.30  p.  ni.,  when 
the  ice  had  closed  in  again,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  tie 
up  to  an  ice-field. 

18th. — We  still  lay  tied  to  the  same  floe  to  which  we  had 
fastened  on  "Wednesday ;  beset  by  heavy  ice  in  which  no 
opening  was  visible. 

2l8t. — At  noon  the  fires  were  drawn,  as  both  boilers  leaked 
and  had  to  be  repaired.  We  had  now  to  work  the  pumps 
by  hand,  the  ship  making  twice  as  much  water  as  in  Polaris 
Bay,  as  she  had  received  many  hard  knocks  since  we  left. 

27th. — We  had  now  for  some  days  been  almost  stationary, 
probably  because  the  ice  had  packed  in  the  narrow  part  of 
Smith's  Sound.  In  the  evening  the  ship  was  towed  between 
the  fields  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 

29th.— Beautiful  calm  weather.  In  the  evening  we  again 
saw  a  large  stretch  of  open  water.  The  fires  were  instantly 
lighted,  and  we  laborod  throughout  the  night  with  the  full 
power  of  steam,  and  besides  all  hands  outside  the  vessel  on 
the  ice,  but  could  only  carry  the  ship  within  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  of  the  open  water,  where,  at  5.30  a.  m., 
■we  were  compelled  to  tie  her  up  again. 

September  5th. — ^We  tried  to  stop  the  leaks  of  the  vessel 
without  success. 

30th. — There  were  this  morning  quite  a  number  of  open 
places  north  and  south  of  the  ship,  and  also  near  her  the  ice 
began  to  work  with  great  noise ;'  but  the  fields  still  incasing 
her  prevented  us  from  reaching  the  opening  to  the  south- 
ward. Since  August  15,  when  we  tied  up  the  ship  to  the 
ice  in  latitude  80^  02'  N.,  we  had  drifted,  in  one  and  a  half 
months,  60  miles  to  the  southward. 

2d. — We  were  about  twenty-three  miles  N.  W.  of  Kane's 
winter-quarters,  and  could  see  the  harbor  plainly  in  a  clear 
sky.     The  ice  still  very  unquiet. 

October  3d. — Began  to  erect  a  house  on  the  ice-field  to 


JOURNAL   OF  HERMANN   8EEMAN8. 


749 


43 


II 


which  the  ship  was  fastened,  as  the  latter  was  in  great  danger 
of  being  crushed,  and,  moreover,  the  winter  now  approached 
fast. 

7th. — Mild,  with  light  northerly  breeze.  Worked  on  the 
house,  and  carried  ice  into  the  ship,  which  Mr.  Schumann 
intended  to  use  for  the  small  boiler  working  the  pumps,  as 
the  salt  water  had  crystalized  in  it  to  a  great  extent.  In  the 
afternoon  Joe  shot  a  seal  and  discovered  that  he  had  been 
tracked  the  day  before  close  to  the  ship  by  a  polar  bear, 
which  the  dogs  had  not  scented,  the  wind  being  against 
them ;  they  are  generally  very  keen  in  this  respect. 

9th. — We  carried  a  store  of  bread  into  the  house.  In  the 
afternoon  one  of  the  crew  saw  a  polar  bear  between  the  ice- 
fields, at  a  distance  of  a  mile  from  the  ship. 

12th. — We  had  a  gale  from  the  N.  E.,  with  cold  temper- 
ature. Much  open  water.  Drifted  more  rapidly  to  the 
south.  We  were  now  about  three  miles  from  the  coast  of 
Greenland. 


f' 


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■p ' 


?  i 


'«>' 


• 


h    : 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 
JOHN  HERRON'S  DIARY. 

John  Herron,  steward  of  tlie  Polaris  Expedition, 
was  one  of  the  party  separated  from  the  sliip  and  sub- 
sequently rescued  by  the  Tigress.  JMr.  Herron  kept 
a  journal  of  the  incidents  and  experiences  of  the  ice 
drift,  which  extended  from  October  15th,  1872,  to  the 
ensuing  May,  and  it  is  in  every  respect  highly  cred- 
itable to  him.  All  the  important  and  interesting  por- 
tions of  this  document  are  given  below : 

October  15.  Gale  from  the  S.  W. ;  s-liip  made  fast  to  floe ; 
bergs  pressed  in  and  ni])pcd  the  ship  until  \vc  thought  slie 
was  going  down ;  threw  pnnisions  ovei'l)oard,  and  nineteen 
souls  got  on  the  floe  to  receive  them  and  haul  them  up  on  the 
ice.  A  large  berg  came  sailing  down,  struck  the  floe,  shiv- 
ered it  to  pieces,  and  freed  the  ship.  She  was  out  of  sight 
in  five  minutes.  Wo  were  afloat  on  different  pieces  of  ice. 
Wo  had  two  boats.  Our  men  were  picked  up,  myself  among 
them,  and  landed  on  the  main  floe,  which  we  found  to  be 
cracked  in  many  places.  We  remained  shivering  all  night. 
Saved  very  little  provisions. 

Oct.  10.  The  berg  that  did  so  much  damage  half  mile  to 
the  N.  1'].  of  us.  Plenty  of  open  water.  We  lost  no  time  in 
launching;  the  boats,  getting  the  provisions  in,  and  pullinif 
around  llic  Ijcrg,  when  we  saw  the  Polaris,  .'^he  had  steam 
up,  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  harbor.  She  got  under  the 
lee  of  au  island,  and  came  down  with  sails  set — jib,  foresail, 

750 


JOHN    IJKUKON  8   DIARY. 


751 


pedition. 
and  sub- 
on  kept 
f  the  ice 
2,  to  the 
rlily  cred- 
sting  por- 

ust  to  floe ; 
houglit  she 
nl  nineteen 
in  np  on  the 
V.  Uoc,  shiv- 

ivit  of  sight 
lic'i'es  of  ice. 

self  amouj? 

f.nnut  to  he 
dig  all  night. 

I  half  mile  to 
it  no  time  in 
and  l'n^l'"'n 
lie  had  stoani 
yt  under  the 
-jib,  foresail, 


mainsail,  and  staysail.  She  must  have  seen  us  as  Ihe  island 
was  four  or  five  miles  off.  We  expected  her  to  save  us, 
as  there  was  plenty  of  open  water,  lieset  with  iee,  wliich  I 
think  sli(>  could  have  gotten  through.  In  the  i-vcning  we 
staried  with  the  boats  for  shore.  Had  we  reached  it  we  could 
have  walked  on  board  in  one  hour,  but  the  ice  set  in  so  fast 
when  near  the  sljore  that  we  could  not  pull  through  it.  We 
had  ii  narrow  escape  in  jumping  from  piece  to  piece,  with  the 
painter  in  hand,  until  we  reached  the  floe.  We  dragged  the 
boat  two  or  three  hund'  mI  yards,  to  a  high  place,  wliere  we 
thought  .she  Wduld  lie  secure  until  mcrning,  and  made  for  our 
provisions,  wliich  were  on  a  distant  part  of  tlie  floe.  We 
were  too  much  worn  out  with  hniiL  r  and  fatigue  to  bring 
lier  ahnig  to-night,  and  it  is  nearly  dark.  We  cannot  see 
our  other  boat  or  our  provisions.  The  snow-drift  has  cov- 
ered our  late  tracks. 

Oct.  17.  Strong  wind  from  the  S.  E.  The  ice  broke  up 
again.  Our  boat  and  everything  we  have  left  aio  going. 
We  are  afloat  on  a  very  small  piece,  with  very  little  provis- 
ions left.  It  is  blowing  a  gale  and  threatens  to  be  a  very 
severe  night. 

Oct.  21.  Building  snow  houses;  finished  one;  we  sleep 
in  it  to-night. 

Oct.  22.  Weather  very  thick  ;  snow  falling.  Building 
snow-houses  for  the  Esquimaux,  and  one  more  for  ourselves,  as 
the  first  i.s  too  small. 

Oct.  23.  With  the  aid  of  our  marine-glass,  to  our  great 
joy,  we  discovered  in  the  distance  a  boat,  and  at  some  dis- 
tance therefrom,  the  tent.  The  ice  for  a  few  miles  between 
us  and  the  floe  whicli  they  are  on  is  very  thin,  but  we  must 
risk  it,  as  we  have  six  bags  of  bread  there,  fort3'-five  pound- 
cans  of  pemmican,  and  two  dozen  cans  of  meat.  Returned 
to  headquarters  weak,  but  thankful  to  God.  Eojoicing  in  our 
good  fortune,  we  treated  ourselves  to  a  good  supper,  thank- 
ing God  for  our  increase  in  stores. 

Oct.  24.  Four  men  made  another  trip  to  the  tent  to  bring 
some  planks  with  which  to  make  a  sleigh. 


752 


JUUN   II£HUON  a   DIARY. 


Oct.  25.  Half  of  tlio  men  have  gone  to  tho  tent  with  the 
sled  muilc  this  morning,  diniwn  by  the  doga.  Tho  rest  of  us 
arc  remaining  here  by  tho  boat  ready  to  shove  off  in  case 
tiu)  ice  should  oix;n.  Evening  tho  men  returned  with  a  sleii- 
load  of  poles.     All  well. 

Oct.  29.  This  morning  very  cold  and  stormy,  but  clear. 
Tlio  land  in  sight  all  the  time.  Wo  have  got  our  cook-house 
at  work.     All  well. 

Oct.  31.  Sent  Joe  and  Hans  with  a  dog-team  to  see  how 
tlie  ice  will  stand,  as  we  intend  starting  to-morrow  for  shore. 
We  have  eaten  as  much  as  we  could  to-day  to  get  strength 
for  tho  journey.  We  have  been  living  very  poorly  so  as  to 
make  our  provisions  last  six  months. 

November  1.  Started  to-day  for  the  large  floe  four  miles 
distant,  and  one-third  of  the  distance,  I  should  say,  to  the 
shore.  After  a  hard  day's  work  we  succeeded  in  getting  two 
boats  and  our  provisions  otT,  also  one  sleigh-load  of  bed-cov- 
ering, skins,  and  canvas,  and  some  poles  ;  leaving  three  bags 
of  coals,  the  only  ones  we  liave  left. 

Nov.  2.  This  morning  wc  were  surprised  to  find  the  ice 
open  all  around  us.  We  started  before  daylight  with  tlic 
dogs  and  sled,  not  knowing  what  had  happened  until  we  had 
nearly  driven  into  the  water. 

Nov.  3.  This  morning  snow-storm.  Building  snow-houses. 
All  well.  No  chance  now  of  getting  ashore  ;  must  now  give 
that  up. 

Nov.  6.  Joe  caught  a  seal,  which  has  been  a  godsend. 
Wc  are  having  a  feast  to-night,  three-fourths  of  a  pound  of 
food  being  our  allowance.  Mr.  Meyer  made  a  pack  of  cards 
from  some  thick  pajier,  and  wc  are  now  playing  euchre. 
Plenty  of  water  around  us.  We  are  a  good  deal  further  from 
the  land,  and  arc  drifting  south  pretty  smart. 

i^ov.  10.  Wind  strong ;  snow  drifting.  We  are  drifting 
fast  la  the  south.  The  west  land  is  not  to  be  seen.  The  Es- 
quimoax  are  out  hunting.  Joe  has  returned  late  ;  Hans  has 
not  C'  mie  yet.  Joe  and  Robert  have  gone  in  search  of 
him.     He  had  left  the  floe  for  another  one,  and  with  great 


JOHN  HERRON's  diary. 


753 


ith  the 
jt  of  us 
in  case 
I  a  sled- 
it  clear, 
jk-liouse 

see  how 
or  shore, 
strength 
j^  80  as  to 

our  miles 
ay,  to  the 
ctthig  two 
)l'  bcd-cov- 
thrcc  bags 

tnd  the  ice 
it  with  tlie 
util  we  had 

now-houses. 
ist  now  give 

a  godsend- 

a  pound  of 

ack  of  cards 

ying  euchre. 

further  from 

c  arc  drifting! 
icn.  ThcEs- 
tc ;  Hans  has 
in  search  of 
ud  with  great 


difficulty  found  his  way  back  very  hitc.  They  saw  him  com- 
ing, dressed  in  skins  and  covered  with  snow,  and  took  him 
for  an  ioc-bcar  ;  loaded  their  pistols  and  made  ready,  when, 
to  their  joy,  they  found  it  v.  as  Hans. 

Nov.  10.  Calm,  but  thick.  Joo  saw  three  seals  yester- 
day, and  a  foxtrack,  but  got  nothing.  Wc  have  nolliing  to 
feed  our  dogs  on  ;  they  got  at  the  provision  to-day  ;  we  shot 
five,  leaving  four ;  shot  some  two  weeks  since.  Lining  our 
new  hut  with  canvas. 

Nov.  21.  The  natives  caught  two  seals  ;  they  shot  three, 
but  lost  one  of  them  in  the  young  ice.  We  moved  into  our 
new  house  to-day.  We  shot  two  dogs — they  got  at  our  pro- 
visions ;  we  have  two  left. 

Nov.  28.  Thanksgiving  to-day  ;  wo  have  had  a  feast — 
four  pint-cans  of  mock-turtle  soup,  six  pint-cans  of  green  corn, 
made  into  scouch.  Afternoon :  three  ounces  of  bread  and 
the  last  of  our  chocolate  ;  our  day's  feast.     All  well. 

December  1.  Calm,  but  little  light.  This  month  out  and 
wc  can  hope  for  the  best,  as  daylight  will  begin  to  como 
upon  U8.  Fred  saw  the  bear  to-day,  but  being  alone  dared 
not  go  for  him. 

Dec.  2.  Boiled  some  seal-skin  to-day  and  ate  it — l)lubber, 
hair,  and  tough  skin.  The  men  ate  it ;  I  coukl  not.  The 
liair  is  too  thick,  and  we  have  no  means  of  getting  it  off. 

Dec.  5.  The  fox  came  too  near  to-day  ;  Bill  Lindemann 
shot  him  ;  skiiuicd  and  cut  him  up  for  cooking.  Fox  in  this 
country  is  all  hair  and  tail. 

Dec.  6.  The  ix)or  fox  was  devoured  to-day  by  seven  of  the 
men  who  liked  it ;  they  had  a  mouthful  each  for  tiieir  share  ; 
1  did  not  think  it  worth  while  myself  to  commence  with  so 
small  an  allowance,  .so  I  did  not  try  Mr.  Fox. 

Dec.  7.  If  wc  keep  on  this  way  we  will  be  otT  the  island 
of  Disco  in  March.  AH  in  good  health.  The  only  thing  that 
troubles  us  is  hunger  ;  that  is  very  severe.  We  feel  «ome- 
times  as  though  we  could  eat  each  other.  Very  weak,  but 
please  God  we  will  weather  it  all.  -     ,  r 


754 


joiixV  herron's  diary. 


i  If 


Dec.  IB.  Hans  caught  a  small  white  fox  in  a  trap  yester- 
day. The  nights  are  brilliant,  cold,  and  clear.  The  scene  is 
charming,  if  we  were  only  in  a  position  to  appreciate  it. 

Dec.  20.  Joe  found  a  crack  yesterday,  and  three  seals. 
Too  dark  to  slioot.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  game  under- 
neath us.  It  would,  be  much  better  to  have  them  on  tlie  floe, 
for  starving  men.  To-morrow  will  be  our  choicest  day — then 
the  sun  returns. 

Dec.  21.  To-day  clear ;  light  wind.  The  shortest  day,  so 
cheer  up  !  In  tliree  weeks  we  will  have  daylight.  Then  we 
hope  to  catch  game. 

Dec.  22.  Calm  and  clear  as  a  bell ;  the  best  twilight  we 
have  seen  for  a  month.  It  must  have  been  cloudy,  or  we  are 
drifting  S.  fast.  Our  spirits  are  up,  but  the  body  weak ;  15° 
below  zero. 

Dec.  25.  This  is  a  day  of  jubilee  at  home,  and  certainly 
here  for  us ;  for,  aeside  the  approaching  daylight,  wliich  we 
feel  tliankCul  to  God  for  sparing  us  to  see,  we  had  quite  a 
feast  to-day. 

Dec.  29.  Joe  shot  a  seal,  which  is  a  godsend,  as  we  are 
pretty  weak.  Tt  is  breezing  up  strong.  We  have  had  a  good 
supper  ;  thank  Cod. 

January  1,  1873.  Clondy ;  no  water;  29°  below  zero. 
Poor  dinner  for  New- Year's  Day — mouldy  bread  and  short 
allowance. 

Jan.  3.  Twenty-three  degrees  below  zero  ;  very  cloudy; 
strong  wind  :  cannot  leave  the  hut. 

Jan.  5.  To-day  fell  in  with  two  bear-tracks,  Imt  cannot 
find  ili»!m.  If  wo  could  kill  one  of  these  fellows  it  would 
set  us  all  riglit. 

Jan.  7.  Light  wind.  Mr.  Meyer  took  an  observation  last 
night ;  latitude  72'^  7';  longitude  HO"  40'  45''.  The  news  wns 
so  good  that  I  treated  myself  to  an  extra  pipe  of  tobai'oo  at 
12  o'clock  last  night.  The  tobacco  is  getting  very  short,  so 
that  I  liave  to  be  very  saving  this  month.  We  are  obliged 
to  Cfio'v  our  monls  with  a  lamp — pretty  slow  work.  Good 
noi'Iiern  lights  last  night. 


am 
iio\n 
Han,' 
Fo 
I  se 
Show 
falls 
is  so 
Iiiit 
fallini 
there 
Oi^st 


JOHN   IlEllRON  S   DIARY. 


755 


80 


zero, 
short 


ion  last 
ows  was 
baceo  at 
short,  80 
obliiTPd 

.     (lood 


Jan.  8,  Light  wind ;  29°  below  zero.  No  water  yet. 
Hans's  little  ])oy  litis  been  very  poorly  for  some  time  back.  I 
hope  he  will  get  better  soon. 

Jan.  15.  Blowing  a  gale.  Snow  drifting  very  badly. 
Our  dogs  had  an  encounter  with  two  l)ears.  One  of  the  dogs 
got  cut  when  some  distance  from  the  floe. 

Jan.  16.  No  wind;  very  tliiek.  TIip  glass  ranges  from 
26°  to  81°  below  zero.  Hans  caught  a  seal  to-day ;  thank 
God!  for- we  were  very  weak.  Our  light  would  have  been 
finished  to-morrow,  and  our  t,(X)ki);g  also.  But  God  sent  this 
seal  to  save  us  ;  thanks  to  His  iKj-ly  name  !  It  has  been  so 
all  the  time.  Just  as  we  we<e  jtlayed  out  something  came 
along.  I  am  afraid  I  have  a  touch  of  tlie  scurvy.  A  little 
raw  meat  will  drive  it  out,  I  hojx;.  Hans's  boy  is  no  better. 
I  hope  it  will  do  him  good  also. 

Jan.  19.  Clear  ;  light  wind  ;  S9°  below  zero.  Tiie  sun 
has  made  his  apjx'arance  to-day.  I  gave  him  three  cheers, 
hoping  we  may  he  able  to  start  a  month  from  now.  Thank 
God  lor  this  day  !  we  have  long  wished  to  see  it.  The  sun 
has  brought  us  luck  in  (lie  way  of  a  sea!  Joe  caught.  The 
finest  displ.'iv  of  northern  lights  that  I  ever  saw  came  otf  to- 
night. They  had  to  go  about  six  miles  to-day  to  open  water, 
where  they  saw  many  seals. 

Jan.  20.  Wo  havi'  not  seen  the  E.  shore  yet.  I  liope  to 
see  the  island  of  Disco;  the  laud  is  very  high  there,  but  I 
am  afraid  we  will  di'ift  past  it.  Wc  cannot  help  mirselvcs, 
however.  We  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  I  am  thankful. 
Hans  shot  a  dovekie.     I  hope  lie  will  give  it  to  his  bfw. 

Foltruary  4.  A  gale  from  the  W.  ;  very  thick  snow-drift. 
I  seldom  see  it  snow  iiere,  for  when  it  is  biow,n<r  hard  the 
Show  comes  like  flour  with  tlic  wind.  Wiietbf-r  the  snow- 
falls or  the  wind  takes  it  up  from  the  ice  I  cannot  t<^ll,  but  it 
is  so  fine  and  thick  you  cannot  sec.  There  is  no  leaving  the 
hnt  in  such  weuihci-,  as  the  snow  is  always  eitiier  drifting  or 
falling  with  the  blow,  no  matter  from  what  quater.  Then 
there  is  no  going  out,  as  it  fiUs  the  ice  and  will  penetrate  al- 
most anything.     The  temperature  to-day  has  been  from  16° 


:i;i 


,<   I  !l 


U. 


n 


I 


1  Jl 


756 


JOHN   riERRON  S   DIARY. 


frt' 


to  10°  below  zero.  All  are  well,  thank  God,  but  me.  I  have 
a  slifrht  touch  of  the  scurvy,  and  feel  veiy  ailing,  but,  please 
God,  it  will  soon  leave  me. 

Feb.  14.  Very  strong  wind;  thick,  and  snow  drifting. 
We  are  having  a  long  spell  of  bad  weather.  Hans  caught  a 
seal  to  day,  which  will  give  us  another  meal.  Saw  a  fox  to- 
day-near the  huts,  but  not  -'  '.  'nough  to  get  a  shot  at  him. 
Joe  hit  three  unicorns  to-da_5 ,  •'it  I  am  afraid  our  cliance  to 
get  one  is  small. 

Feb.  IG.  Saw  plenty  of  whales  :  wish  they  would  take 
their  departure  ;  they  frighten  the  seals  away  which  we  are 
now  so  badly  in  want  of;  our  provisions  are  gelting  very  low. 
When  you  take  a  glass  and  look  round,  you  see  the  ice  in  the 
distance  piled  up  as  high  as  a  ship's  mast,  so  that  it  seems 
impossible  to  travel  over  it — certainly  not  with  a  boat — and 
no  land  to  be  seen  yet.  Wo  want  water  to  escape,  and,  please 
God,  we  will  get  it  when  the  time  comes.     All  well. 

Feb.  10.  The  welcome  cry  this  morning  was  "  Land  ho !" 
to  westward.  Cape  Walsingham.  Now  we  will  be  out  of  the 
narrows.  The  straits  commence  to  widen  here  so  that  vve 
can  travel  S.  fast  if  we  cannot  reach  land. 

Feb.  20.  Water  around  ;  cannot  see  land.  The  seals  are 
very  scarce  here.  Wo  must  soon  get  a  good  lead  of  water 
running  in-shore.,  and  so  escape,  or  kill  |)lentyof  seals  to  live 
on,  else  our  time  in  this  world  will  bo  short.  Bni  God's  will 
be  done. 

Fel).  24.  Land  is  twenty  miles  off,  I  should  say,  and  we 
appear  to  be  leaving  it.  My  advice  is  to  start  lor  it — making 
a  sleigh  out  of  some  spare  slcins,  blading  it  with  jji'ovision.s 
and  clothing,  and  tlio  kayak  to  fciry  us  across  thccraciis: 
also,  anuniniition  for  hunting  purjioses  when  we  get  on  shore. 
By  that  means  we  could  leave  the  boat  and  travel  light,  for 
it  is  my  opinion  that  we  will  never  get  the  lioat  over  the  ico 
any  distnnce.  We  seem  to  have  left  the  sealing-gronnd.  We 
cannot  catcii  aiiytliing  to  speak  of,  iind  we  hiiv<i  only  tiu'cc 
weeks'  ]*rovisions  left.  Captain  Tyson  and  some  of  tiie  men 
are   afraid  to  venture  ia-shorc,  and  unwilling  to   leave  tlw 


!'!  .11 


JOHN   HERRON  S   DIARY. 


757 


1  \iavc 
,  please 

Irifting. 
•w^\\t  a 
a  fox  to- 
at  liii"- 
haixce  to 

mid  talvC 
;U  \vc  aic 
vcvy  low. 
ico  in  the 
it  seems 
b(r,it— and 
uul,  please 

Ll. 

Land  ho  '•" 
:  out  of  the 
.  so  tbat  *ve 

,c  seals  are 

,\  „f  water 

:als  to  live 

God's  will 

soy. and  we 
it— nuikiug 

\  provisions 

tlu.'  cracks; 

,ot,  on  shore. 

,va  li^ht,  for 

ovi-r  the  i<^c 
-M  round.  "*-' 
v...  only  three 
,e  of  the  men 

to  leave  th« 


boat ;  go  wo  have  made  up  our  minds  to  stay,  come  down  in 
our  provisions,  and  trust  in  God,  liopin^j;  we  may  drift  on  a 
better  sealing-ground,  and  thus  live  thro\igli  it.  J  askt-d  (he 
Esquimaux's  opinions  about  it — what  they  would  do  if  they 
had  not  us  to  influence  them.  They  told  me  tliey  would  start 
for  land  directly  Iheysaw  it.  They  do  not  like  to  speak  their 
muids  openly  for  fear  something  miglit  liiijipon — mcuning 
they  would  be  blamed  for  it ;  so  they  are  silent,  following 
only  the  advice  and  opinions  of  others.  Joe  is  very  much  to 
be  praised,  also  his  wife  Hannah.  Wc  may  thank  them 
and  God  for  our  lives  and  the  good  health  we  arc  m. 
We  could  never  have  gotten  through  this  far  without  them. 
If  wc  ever  get  out  of  this  difficulty,  they  can  never  be  paid 
too  much.  Joe  caught  a  very  small  seal,  which  makes  the 
eighth  this  month.  Northern  lights  very  brilliant  to-night. 
All  well. 

Feb.  2G.  A  crack  of  water  to  the  I'].  Land  to  be  seen. 
Wc  are  coming  down  on  our  provisions  one-half;  that  is  as 
low  as.  we  can  come  and  keep  life,  and  will  be  a  few  ounces  a 
day. 

March  1.  We  are  drifting  S,  fast ;  cai  just  sec  the  moun- 
tains in  the  N.  W.  Sometimes  Peter  favo  -s  us  with  a  sailor's 
yarn  Avhen  we  lie  down  at  night ;  that  is,  when  wc  have 
had  a  meal  of  seal-meat.  All  other  nights  we  arc  quiet 
enough. 

March  2.  Splendid  display  of  northern  liglits  these  last 
two  niglits.  To-day  God  lias  sent  us  food  in  abuntlance. 
Joe  shot  an  oogjook,  one  of  the  largest  kind  ;  plenty  of  meat 
and  oil ;  aiul  forty-two  dovekies.  It  took  all  bands  to  tlrag 
liim  home  That  was  a  good  Sunday's  work  ;  dragging  the 
fine  fellow  to  the  Imt,  and  thanking  God  for  His  mercies. 
Begins  to  breeze  up,  and  the  snow  d-iits  pietty  lively.  All 
well  and  happy. 

Marcli  T).  Ulowing  a  f ;alc  from  the  X.  W.  Snow  drifting ; 
cannot  get  out.  Joe  went  out  in  the  last  blow;  it  seems  to 
me  he  cannot  stay  in;  he  is  a  llrst-ratn  fellow;  we  Mouhl 
have  been  dead  men  long  since  bad  it  not  been  for  him. 


"'i  "■ 


t| 


758 


JOHN   HERRON  S   DIARY. 


: « 


U      ) 


I  ' 


Mai'ch  7.  The  gale  abated  this  morning.  Stiff  breeze 
yet,  and  snow  drifting.  Immense  icebergs  all  around  the  floe. 
There  was  a  fearful  noise  all  last  night,  which  kept  us  awake. 
The  floe  was  cracking,  splitting,  and  working  in  the  most 
fearful  manner,  just  lilic  a  park  of  artillery  and  musketry.  I 
expected  to  sec  it  split  into  a  thousand  pieces  every  moment. 
I  feel  very  bad  yet  in  my  head  and  stomach.  The  liver  of 
bear  and  oogjook,  they  say,  is  very  dangerous  to  eat.  But 
what  is  a  hungry  man  to  do? 

March  11.  Blowing  a  strong  gale  yet.  All  hands  were 
np  last  night  and  dressed,  ready  for  a  jump,  for  the  ice  was 
splitting,  cracking  and  making  a  fearful  noise  all  night.  To- 
day has  been  a  fearful  day — cannot  see,  for  snow-drift.  We 
know  the  floe  is  broken  into  small  pieces.  We  are  afloat — 
jumping  and  kicking  about.  This  is  not  very  pleasant.  'My 
hope  is  in  God. 

March  12.  Last  night  was  a  fearful  night  of  suspense — 
ice  creaking  and  breaking  ;  the  gale  roaring,  and  the  water 
swashing.  But  where  ?  We  know  it  is  around  us,  but  can- 
not see  anything.  Since  one  o'clock  this  morning  tlic  wind 
has  been  going  down,  tliauk  God,  and  now  I  can  hco  around. 
A  nice  picture !  Everytliing  broken  up  into  small  pieces ; 
the  best  piece  we  are  on.  The  liouses  are  nearly  covered. 
Afternoon  :  It  has  calmed  down  to  a  fine  day,  with  a  light 
breeze. 

March  17.  Saw  a  bear  this  morning,  and  gave  chase,  be- 
fore six  o'clock.  After  a  very  exciting  run  of  over  two 
hours,  he  got  over  a  large  space  of  water,  and  we  had 
to  give  him  np.  Saw  a  wliale  and  three  seals,  l)ut  gut  noth- 
ing. 

xVfarch  20.  Water  tln'ee  miles  off".  Joe  caught  four  seals 
to-day  and  Hans  one — the  first  of  tlie  kind  ;  tlioy  call  them 
bladder-nose  ;  tliey  an-  buggers  to  figlit.  I  do  not  know  how 
far  S.  we  shnll  Imvetheni;  wo  have  just  struck  tiieir  ground. 
Tliey  are  s[  liiidid  sea) — much  larger  than  (In-  others.  It 
is  very  dangerous  jroing  out  no  far  ;  the  ice  is  so  weak,  and 
it  is  so  near  spring-tide. 


Apr  I 

li'K'lt     I, 
^110    )i| 


JOHN  HEREON  S   DIARY. 


759 


•ceze 
floe, 
vake. 
most 

•y.  1 

iinent. 
ver  of 
But 

Is  were 
ice  was 
it.    To- 
:t.    We 
afloat — 
ut.   'My 

spense — • 
lie  water 
,  \)ut  can- 
the  wind 
c  around. 


over 
Id  wc 

gi)t  1 


mow  n 

(llluM-9. 

I)  sveak, 


March  27.  Went  out  to-day  to  the  old  place,  but  was 
forced  to  come  back.  Esquimaux  and  all  pretty  lively.  It 
is  so  dangerous  we  will  have  to  wait  until  after  spring-tide. 
A  very  agreeable  surprise  to-night,  while  at  supper.  A  bear 
came  to  the  hut.  Of  course,  he  died  ;  we  buried  him  in  the 
snow  until  morning. 

March  28.  Skinned  and  cut  up  the  bear  ;  he  is  a  fine 
young  one,  very  tender  and  fat,  weighing,  I  should  say,  700 
or  800  pounds.  We  are  making  some  sausages  from  liim, 
which  are  very  good,  I  think.  1  think  it  is  the  sweetest  and 
teuderest  meat  I  ever  ate.     The  fat  cuts  like  gelatine. 

March  29.  Has  been  blowing  very  hard  since  last  night, 
and  is  doing  so  yet.  Surrounded  with  large  bergs  ;  the  ice 
broken  up  ;  water  all  around.  Never  saw  so  many  icebergs ; 
we  are  completely  hemmed  in  by  them.  Do  not  know  what 
distance  we  are  from  land.  Nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  old 
sight — icebergs,  floes,  and  water. 

March  30.  Blowing  a  gale  from  W.  N.  W,  ;  it  looks  fear- 
ful. Last  night  the  sight  was  dreadful.  I  went  out,  and  there, 
within  ten  or  twelve  yards  of  the  door  of  our  hut,  was  a 
very  large  and  ugly-looking  iceberg  grinding  a^rainst  us.  Our 
little  floe  gets  smaller  in  open  water.  Today  wc  had  the 
pleasure  of  launching  the  boat.  We  saw  on  a  )»iecc  of  ice  a 
large  seal ;  we  fired  and  thought  we  hit  him.  'Vhcn  we  had 
pulled  there  with  the  boat,  we  found  a  large  bhuJdei-nosc  and 
her  pup.  She  showed  fight,  but  was  soon  killed,  and,  with 
her  pup,  towed  to  our  floe.  The  buck  was  shot,  but  got  under 
the  young  ice. 

March  Bl.  We  are  nearly  off"  Cape  Farewell.  Last  night, 
ran  a  very  lieavy  sea;  not  a  Lit  of  ice  to  be  seen  as  far  as  tlie 
eye  aoidd  reach.  To-day  closed  around  a  little,  but  plenty 
of  water.  Dare  not  venture  in  our  open  boat ;  wc  must 
watcli  and  wait  and  trust  in  God. 

April  1.  A  fearful  night,  last  night.  Cannot  stay  on  our 
lioe  ;  must  leave  it  at  once.  Got  under  way  at  8  a.m.;  the 
lx)at  taking  in  water.  Loaded  too  deep.  Throw  overboard 
one  hundred   pounds  of    meat ;    must  throw  away  all   our 


M  ;•■ 


i.. 


t,j 


'■ 


I    v 


^j: 


i  I: 


760 


JOHN   HERRON  S   DIARY. 


clothes.  Cannot  carry  anything  but  the  tent  and  a  few  skins 
to  cover  us  with,  a  little  meat,  and  our  bread  and  pemmican. 
We  landed  to  lighten  our  boat ;  pitched  our  tent,  and  intend 
stopping  all  night. 

April  2.  Lovely  last  night.  The  floe  lost  several  pieces. 
I  could  not  sleep  for  two  reasons :  the  ice  breaking  up,  and 
too  cold.  Started  at  5  A.  M.  Worked  the  oars  for  two 
hours,  then  a  breeze  sprang  up  and  increased  until  it  blew 
almost  a  gale.  We  made  several  narrow  escapes  with  our 
boat  before  we  could  find  a  piece  of  ice  safe  enough  to  land 
,  on,  and  when  we  did  she  was  making  water  fast.  When 
emptied,  we  found  a  hole  in  her  side,  which  wo  are  repairing 
this  afternoon.     We  are  in  a  very  bad  fix. 

April  3.  Repaired  our  boat,  and  started.  Pulled  three 
hours,  when  a  breeze  sprang  up  from  N.  N.  W.  We  kept 
under  way  until  2:80  p.  M.,  when  we  had  to  haul  up  on  a  piece 
of  a  floe.  We  were  beset  by  the  ice  and  could  not  get  tlirough ; 
so  we  encamped  for  the  night. 

April  5.  Blowing  a  gale  and  a  fearful  sea  running. 
Two  pieces  broke  from  the  floe.  We  are  on  one  close  to  the 
tent.  At  5  a.  m.  removed  our  things  to  the  center.  Another 
piece  broke  off  carrying  Joe's  hut  with  it ;  luckily  it  gave  some 
warning,  so  that  tiioy  had  time  to  throw  out  some  things  be- 
fore it  parted.  A  dreadful  day  ;  cannot  do  anything  to  help 
ourselves.  If  tlie  ice  break  up  mucli  more,  wc  must  break  up 
witli  it ;  set  a  watch  all  night. 

April  6.  Blowing  a  very  severe  gale.  Still  on  the  same 
ice  ;  cannot  get  off".  At  tlic  mercy  of  the  elements.  Joe  lost 
another  hut  to-day.  The  ice,  with  a  roar,  split  across  the 
floe,  cutting  Joe's  hut  right  in  two.  Wc  have  Init  a  small 
piece  left.  Cannot  lie  liown  to-nig)it.  Put  a  lew  thinf:;»t  in 
the  boat  and  now  standing  by  for  a  jump  ;  such  is  the  night. 

A])nl  7.  Still  blowing  a  gale,  with  a  fearful  sea  runninjr. 
The  ice  split  right  across  our  tent  this  morning  at  <'>  a.  m. 
Wiiilc  getting  a  few  ounces  of  bread  and  pemmican,  we  lost 
our  l>reakfast  in  scrambling  out  of  our  tent,  and  nearly  lost 
our  boat,  which  would  have  been  worse  than  losing  ourselves, 


li: 


JOHN   HEREON  S   DIARY. 


761 


jw  skins 
uiinican. 
(1  intend 

al  pieces. 
!«•  up,  and 
s  for  two 
til  it  blew 
with  oui- 
rh  to  land 
St.    When 
e  repairing 

■ullcd  three 
We  kept 
ip  on  a  piece 
ret  through ; 


ea  running. 
?  close  to  tiie 
Another 
it  gave  some 
mc  tilings  be- 
y'tbiiig  to  belp 
nust  break  up 

on  the  same 
,nta.  Joe  lost 
,\U  across  tlic 
^vo  l>iit  a  small 

IVw  thinp^  i" 
;i,  is  the  nigW' 
il  sea  runni"?' 
■i.ingatf.  A->'' 
unioaa,  we  lost 
and  nearly  lost 
osing  ourselves. 


We  could  not  catch  any  seal  after  the  storm  set  in  ;  so  we  are 
obliged  to  starve  for  a  while,  hoping  in  God  it  will  not  be  for 
a  long  time.  The  worst  of  it  is,  wo  have  no  blul)l)cr  for  the 
lamp,  and  cannot  cook,  or  melt  any  water.  Evcrythino;  looks 
very  gloomy.  Set  a  watch  ;  half  the  men  iiio  lying  clown, 
the  others  walking  outside  the  tent. 

A\m\  8.  Last  night,  at  12  o'clock,  the  ice  broko  again, 
right  between  the  tent  and  the  boat,  which  were  close  to- 
gether, so  close  that  a  man  could  not  walk  bclweon  llicra. 
There  the  ice  split,  separating  the  boat  and  tent,  carrying 
away  boat,  kayak,  and  Mr.  Meyer.  Tiioro  we  stood,  helpless, 
looking  at  each  other.  It  -was  blowing  and  snowing,  very 
cold,  and  a  fearfnl  sea  running.  The  ice  was  bi'caking,  lap- 
ping, and  crushing.  The  sight  was  grand,  bnt  dreadful  to 
us  in  our  position.  Mr.  Meyer  cast  the  kayak  adrift,  but  it 
went  to  leeward  of  us.  He  can  do  nothing  wiiji  the  boat 
alone,  so  thoy  arc  lost  i  us  mdess  God  returns  them.  The 
natives  went  olF  on  a  piece  of  ice  with  their  paddles  and  ice- 
spears.  The  work,  looks  dangerous  ;  we  may  never  sec  them 
again.  But  we  are  lost  without  the  boat,  so  that  they  arc  as 
well  ofF.  After  an  hour's  struggle,  we  can  make  out,  with 
what  little  light  there  is,  that  they  have  reached  the  boat, 
about  half  a  mile  oil".  Tiiere  they  appear  to  be  helpless — 
the  ice  closing  In  all  around — and  we  can  do  nothing  until 
dayliglit- 

Daylight  at  last — 3  a.  m.  Tlicre  we  see  fhem  with  the 
boat ;  they  can  do  nothing  with  her.  Tlic  kayak  is  the  same 
distance  in  another  direction.  We  must  vcniure  off;  may  as 
well  be  crushed  by  the  ice  and  drowned  as  to  leniain  here 
without  the  boat.  Gff  wo  venture,  all  but  two,  wlio  dare  not 
make  the  attempt.  Wo  juni[)  or  step  from  one  ])icce  to  an- 
other, as  the  swell  heaves  it  and  the  ice  comes  close  together 
— one  piece  being  high,  the  other  low,  so  that  yci  watch 
your  chance  to  jun»p.  All  who  ventured  reached  the  boat  in 
safety,  thank  God,  and  alter  a  long  struggle  wo  got  her  safe  to 
camp  again.  Then  we  ventured  for  the  kayak,  and  got  it 
also.    Mr.   Mover  aud  Fred  Jamkins  fell  into  the  water. 


\ 

i       > 

■  'iv 

762 


JOHN   HERRON  8   DIARY. 


i    •- 


Luckily,  wc  had  two  or  three  dry  shirts  left,  so  that  they 
could  change.  Most  every  man  is  more  or  loss  wet.  Have 
taken  our  tent  down  and  pitched  it  on  the  middle  of  our  little 
piece  of  ice,  with  our  boat  alongside.  Joe  has  built  another 
hut  alongside  <he  tent. 

Api'il  9.  The  sun  has  shown  himself  for  a  few  minutes. 
Mr.  Meyer  shot  him  ;  latitude  55°  51'  N.  The  sea  runs  very 
high  threatening  to  wash  us  off  every  minute.  We  are  in 
the  hands  of  God  ;  may  He  pi-eserve  us.  The  ice  is  much 
slacker,  and  tlie  water  is  coming  nearer.  Things  look  very 
bad.  God  knows  how  the  night  will  end.  Evening :  Washed 
out  of  our  tout;  Hannah  from  her  snow-hut.  Have  gotten 
everything  in  the  boat  ready  for  a  start ;  she  can  never  live 
m  such  a  sea.  The  sun  has  set  very  good.  Land  in  sight. 
It  has  cheered  us  up.  The  women  and  children  are  in  the 
boat.  We  have  not  a  dry  place  to  walk  about  nor  a  piece  of 
fresh-walcr  ice  to  eat.  The  sea  has  swept  over  all.  The  ice 
is  closing  in  fast ;  the  wind  and  sea  going  down. 

April  12.  We  are  still  prisoners,  the  ice  close.  Saw 
some  seals,  but  could  not  get  them.  Very  hungry,  and  likely 
to  be  so. 

April  14.  Our  small  piece  of  ice  is  wearing  away  very 
fast;  our  little  provisions  are  nearly  finished.  Things  look 
very  dark ;  starvation  very  near.  My  trust  is  in  God ;  He 
will  bring  us  through.     All  well. 

April  16.  The  ice  still  the  same ;  no  swell  on.  My 
head  and  face  have  Ijecn  swollen  to  twice  theii-  usual  size.  I 
do  not  know  the  cause  of  it,  unless  it  is  the  ice  head-pillow 
and  the  sun.  We  keep  an  hours  watch  at  night.  Some  one 
has  been  at  the  pennnican  on  their  watch,  and  I  can  put  iiiy 
hand  on  the  man.  He  did  the  same  thing  during  the  winter, 
and  on  the  night  of  the  7th  I  cauglit  him  in  the  act.  We 
have  but  few  days'  provisions  left.  The  only  thing  tliat 
troubles  me  is  the  thought  of  cannibalism.  It  is  a  fearful 
thought,  but  may  as  well  be  looked  boldly  in  the  face  as  oth- 
erwise. If  such  things  are  to  happen  we  must  submit.  May 
God  save  us ! 


JOHN   HEllRON  8   DIARY. 


763 


it  they 

Have 

lur  little 

another 

minutes, 
nns  very 
\^Q  are  in 
;  18  much 
look  very 
;  Washed 
ve  gotten 
never  live 
1  in  sight, 
are  in  the 
a  piece  of 
[.    The  ice 

lose.      ?aw 
r,  and  likely 

away  very 
Things  look 
u  God ;  He 

f\\  on.    My 
■;nal  size.     1 
bcad-yillow 
Some  one 
can  iiut  my 
k  the  winter, 
F,c  act.     We 
thing  tliat 
It  is  a  Icarful 
face  as  otli- 
lubmit.    May 


April  17.  Wo  sliot  the  dogs  last  winter  for  stealing  the 
proviisions.  If  1  had  my  way,  with  the  consent  of  all  liaiids, 
I  would  call  out  and  shoot  down  that  two-legged  dog,  who 
has  since  been  at  them.  I  see  most  of  the  nu-n  have  their 
faces  swollen,  but  not  so  badly  as  nunc.  All  well,  but  grow-' 
ing  very  weak. 

April  18.  Joe  saw  a  small  liole  of  water  half  a  mile  off. 
Ho  took  his  gun  and  ventured  over  the  loose  ieo.  No  sooner 
had  lie  gotten  there  than  he  shot  a  seal,  and  sang  out  for  the 
kayak,  as  the  water  made  rapidly.  It  is  a  nice-sized  seal. 
A  joyful  sight  met  our  view  this  morning  when  wo  turned  out 
— the  land  in  sight,  bearing  S.  W.  We  reluined  thanks  to 
God  for  His  mercy  and  goodness  to  us.  We  dividcid  the  seal 
very  nicely  into  sixteen  parts.  One  man  tluMi  turned  his 
back,  and  called  out  the  names,  each  man  stejiping  up  and 
taking  his  share. 

April  !20.  Blowing  a  gale  somewhere.  The  swell  is  very 
heavy.  The  first  warning  we  had — the  man  on  watch 
sang  out  at  the  moment — a  sea  struck  us,  and,  washing  over 
U3,  carried  away  everything  that  was  loose.  This  happened 
at  9  o'clock  last  night.  We  shipped  sea  after  sea,  five  and 
ten  minutes  after  each  other,  carrying  away  everything  we 
had,  our  tent,  skins,  and  most  of  our  bccj-elolhing,  leaving 
us  destitute,  with  only  the  few  things  we  could  get  into  the 
boat.  There  we  stood  from  9  in  tin?  evening  until  7  next 
morning,  enduring,  I  sliould  say,  what  men  never  stood  be- 
fore. The  few  things  wo  saved,  and  the  children,  were 
placed  in  the  boat.  The  sea  broke  over  us  during  that  night 
and  morning.  Every  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  a  sea  would 
come,  lift  the  Ijoat  and  ns  with  it,  carry  us  along  the  ice,  and 
lose  it  strength  near  the  edge,  and  somelinies  on  it.  Then  it 
would  take  us  the  next  fifteen  minutes  to  got  back  to  a  safe 
place,  rcfidy  for  the  next  roller.  So  we  stood  that  long  hour, 
not  a  word  spoken  but  the  commands  to  "  Hold  on,  my  hear- 
ties, bear  down  on  her,  put  on  all  your  weight ;"  and  so  we 
did,  bearing  down  and  holding  on  like  giini  dcatli.  Cold, 
hungry,  wet,  and  little  prospect  ahead.     At  7  o'clock  there 


^!i 


I. 


764 


JOHN   HEREON S  DIARY. 


camo  close  to  iis  a  small  piece  of  ice,  which  rode  dry,  and 
wo  determined  to  launcli  the  boat  and  reach  it,  or  perish.  The 
cook  went  overhoanl  but  was  saved.  Landed  there  in  safety, 
thank  God.    All  well.    Tired  and  sleepy. 

April  21.  Lost  night  and  yesterday  all  hands  wet.  Noth- 
infj  dry  to  jmt  on  to-day.  There  is  little  to  dry,  but  we  have 
stripped  off  everything  we  can  spare,  and  arc  drying 
them.  The  men  arc  divided  into  two  watches,  sleeping  in 
the  boat  and  doing  the  best  we  can.  Hunger  disturbs  us 
most. 

April  22.  Weather  very  bad.  It  appears  to  me  we  are 
the  sport  and  jest  of  the  elements.  The  other  night  they 
played  with  us  and  our  boat  as  though  we  were  shuttlecocks. 
Men  would  never  believe,  nor  could  pen  doecribe  the  scenes 
which  we  have  passed  through,  and  yet  live.  Here  we  are, 
half  drowned,  cold  and  with  no  means  of  shelter.  Everything 
wet  and  no  sun  to  dry  theu^..  The  scene  looks  bad  ;  nothing 
to  eat.  Everything  finished  if  some  relief  does  not  come 
along.  I  do  not  know  what  will  become  of  us.  Fearful 
thoughts  enter  my  head  as  to  the  future.  Mr.  Meyer  is  starv- 
ing ;  he  cunnot  last  long  in  this  state.  Joe  has  been  off  on 
the  ice  three  times  to-day,  the  little  way  he  can  get,  but  has 
not  seen  anything.  Chewed  on  a  piece  of  skin  this  morning 
that  was  tanned  and  saved  for  clothing ;  rather  a  tough  and 
tasteless  breakfast.  Joe  ventured  off  on  the  ice  the  fourtli 
time,  and  after  looking  a  good  while  from  a  piece  of  icel)crg, 
saw  a  bear  coming  slowly  toward  us.  He  ran  back  as  fast  as 
possiljlo  for  his  giui.  All  of  us  laid  down  and  remained  per- 
fectly still,  Joe  and  Hans  going  out  some  distance  to  meet 
the  bear.  Getting  behind  a  hummock,  they  waited  for  him. 
Along  came  Bruin,  thinking  he  was  coming  to  a  meal  instead 
of  furnishing  one  himself.  Clack,  bang  went  two  rifles,  and 
down  went  Ihuin  to  save  a  starving  lot  of  men.  The  TiOrd 
be  praised  ;  this  is  His  lieavcnly  work !  V/e  camiot  catch 
seal  for  the  pack-ice,  and  we  are  on  a  l)ad  sealiiig-ground. 
He  therefore  sends  a  bear  along  where  bears  arc  seldom  seen, 
and  where  we  certainly  never  expected  to  find  one.     The 


7,  t^n^ 
1.  The 
safety, 

Noth- 
wc  have 

di-ymg 
cpiug  in 
iturbs  us 

c  wc  arc 
g\it  tliey 
ttlecocks. 
[he  scenes 
i-c  we  are, 
iverythmg 
I ;  nothing 
not  come 
3.    Fearful 
rev  is  starv- 
beeu  off  on 
jet,  hut  has 
his  morning 
a  tougl\  and 
]e  tlic  fourth 
of  iceberg, 
Ick  as  fast  as 
niaincd  pcr- 
iuice  to  meet 
itrd  for  him. 
mcai  instead 
■0  rifles,  anil 
[,     The  I'ord 
cannot  catch 
laling-ground. 
sehlom  seen, 
d  one.     The 


JOHN   IIERKON  S   DIARY. 


'G5 


poor  bear  was  hungry  himself ;  there  was  nothing  in  his 
stomach.  Jdc,  poor  IcUovr,  looked  very  much  down  on  our 
account.  Everything  lcK)ks  bj-ight  again  but  the  atmos- 
phere ;  it  looks  threatening. 

April  25.  Wind  inei'oased  to  a  gale  last  niuht  from  the 
N.  E.  Raining  uU  night  and  to-day,  witli  si)o\v-s(]ualIs. 
Launched  the  boat  at  5  a.  m.  The  case  was  dcsi)erate  ;  run- 
ning witlx  a  light-built  boat,  damaged  aa  she  is,  jKitcliod  and 
scratched  all  over.  But  what  were  we  to  do  ?  The  piece  of 
ice  we  were  on  had  wasted  away  so  much  it  would  never  rido 
out  the  gale.  Our  danger  to-day  was  vcr}^  great ;  a  gale  of 
wind  blowing  ;  a  erippled  boat  overloaded  ;  and  a  Icarl'ul  sea 
running,  fdled  with  small  ice  as  sharp  as  knives.  I>ut,  thank 
God,  wo  came  safely  through  it.  We  are  all  soaking  wet,  in 
everything  we  liave,  and  no  chance  of  drying  anything.  Wo 
havo  had  neither  sun  nor  moou  for  over  a  week.  Not  a  sin- 
gle star  have  I  seen.  All  is  dark  and  dreary,  but,  please 
God,  it  will  soon  brighten  up.  We  have  struck  the  sealman's 
grounds.  I  never  saw  sueli  an  abundance  of  seals  before  ; 
tliey  are  in  schools  like  the  porpoise.  We  liaulcdup  on  a  floe 
after  eight  hours'  pidl ;  could  make  no  westing.  Shot  some 
seals,  but  they  all  sunk  ;  Joe  shot  them.     Hard  times. 

April  26.  Joe  shot  a  seal  last  evening  and  broke  the 
charm.  Hans  shot  one  this  morning.  Ice  very  thick  around. 
Started  at  6..30  a.m.,  and  were  beset  two  hours  afterward. 
Pulled  up  on  a  small  piece  of  ice  ;  the  best  we  could  fmd. 
Snowing  all  day.  llepaircd  the  boat  here,  which  it  wanted, 
and  the  weather  cleared  up  in  the  afternoon.  Got  some 
things  dried  a  little,  and  half  of  us  turned  in. 

April  28.     Gale  of  wind  sprang  up  from  the  W.  ;  heavy 

sea  running ;  water  wa^.hing  over  the  floe.     All   ready  and 

standing  by  our  boat  all  night.    Xot  quite  so  bad  as  the  other 

night.      Snow-squalls  all   night  and  during  the   forenoon. 

Launched  the   boat  at  daylight,  but  could  get  nowhere  for 

the  ice.     Heavy  sea  and  head-wind  ;  blowing  a  gale  right  in 

our  teeth.     Hauled  up  on  a  piece  of  ice  at  6  a.  m.,  and  had 

a  few  hom-a'  sleep,  b  't  were   threatened  to  be  mashed  to 

44 


^ 

^>^ 


^. 


<* 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


^     '^^^ 


Z 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


M.  11.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  USSO 

(716)  872-4503 


T 


4. 

5?  ..  W 


'«. 


A 


o^ 


^ 


766 


JOHN   UEKUON  8   UIAKT. 


pieces  by  some  bergs,  lliey  are  fighting  quite  a  battle  in 
the  water,  and  bearing  right  for  us.  We  called  the  watch, 
launched  the  boat,  and  got  away,  the  wind  blowing  mode- 
rately and  the  sea  going  down. 

4:30  p.  M.  Steamer  right  ahead,  and  a  little  to  the  N.ofus. 
We  hoisted  the  colors,  pulled  until  dark,  trying  to  cut  her 
olT,  but  she  does  not  see  us.  She  is  a  sealer,  bearing  8.  W. 
Once  she  appeared  to  be  bearing  right  down  u|)6n  us,  but  I 
supiwse  she  was  working  through  the  ice.  What  jrty  she 
caused !  We  found  a  small  piece  of  ice  and  boarded  it  for 
the  night.  Night  calm  and  clear.  The  stars  are  out  the 
first  time  for  a  week,  and  there  is  a  new  moon.  The  sea 
quiet,  and  splendid  northern  lights.  Divided  into  two 
watches,  four  hours'  sleep  each.  Intend  to  start  early.  Had 
a  goou  pull  this  afternoon  ;  made  some  westing.  Cooked 
with  blubber-fire.  Kept  a  good  one  all  night,  so  that  we  could 
be  seen. 

April  29.  Morning  fine  and  calm ;  the  water  quiet.  At 
daylight  sighted  the  steamer  five  miles  off.  Called  the  watch, 
launched  the  boat  and  made  for  her.  After  an  hour's  pull 
gained  on  her  a  good  deal ;  another  hour  and  we  got  fast  in 
the  ice ;  could  get  no  further.  Landed  on  a  piece  of  ice,  and 
hoisted  our  colors  from  an  elevated  place.  Mustered  our 
rides  and  pistols,  and  fired  together,  making  a  conHidcrablo 
repoii:.  Fired  throe  rounds  and  was  answered  by  three  shots, 
the  steamer  at  the  same  time  heading  for  us.  He  headed 
N.,  then  S.  E.,  and  kept  on  so  all  day.  He  tried  to  work 
through  the  ice,  but  could  not.  Very  strange;  I  should 
thiivk  any  sailing-vessel,  much  less  a  steamer,  could  get 
through  with  ease.  We  fired  several  rounds  and  ke|)t  our 
colors  flying,  but  he  came  no  nearer.  He  was  not  over  four 
or  five  miles  distant.  Late  in  the  afternoon  he  steamed 
away,  bearing  S.  W.  We  gave  hira  up.  In  the  evening  he 
hove  in  sight  again,  but  farther  off.  While  looking  at  him, 
another  stranger  hove  in  sight,  so  that  we  have  two  sealers 
near,  one  on  each  side  of  us,  and  I  do  not  expect  to  be  picked 
ap  by  either  of  them. 


JOHN  HERRON's  diary. 


767 


April  80.  Five  a.  m.  ;  weather  thick  and  foggy.  Glori- 
ous sight  when  fog  broke ;  a  steamer  close  to  us.  She  sees 
us  and  bears  down  on  us.  Wo  are  saved,  thank  God !  We 
are  safe  on  board  the  Tigress,  of  St.  Jolin's,  Captain  Ikrt- 
lett.  He  says  the  other  steamer  could  not  have  seen  us,  as 
the  captain  is  noted  for  his  humanity.  The  Tigress  musters 
one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  the  kindest  and  most  obliging 
I  have  ever  met.    Picked  up  in  latitude  58°  86'  N-. 

May  1.  Weather  very  fine.  Going  north,  sealing.  The 
steamer  we  saw  on  the  2(lth  was  the  Eagle,  of  St.  John's, 
Captain  Jackmann,  noted  for  his  humanity  in  saving  life. 
He  has  received  two  medals  for  saving  life.  The  captain  of 
this  steamer  says  that  if  that  man  had  seen  us,  and  could  not 
have  gotten  to  us  with  the  stcnmcr,  he  would  have  sent  his 
men  on  the  ice  and  canned  us  otf.  Joe  is  in  his  glory,  shoot- 
ing seals.    We  are  getting  on  first-rate,  eating  and  slcefting. 

May  2.  The  crew  on  board  this  steamer,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  in  numl)er,  are  like  a  band  of  brothers.  They 
are  all  Newfoundland  men,  and  are  very  kind  to  each  other. 
No  wrangling  there ;  a  new  thing  on  board  sliip. 

May  <).  Blowing  fearfully  all  night,  and  continues  to  do 
80.  These  steamers  must  be  very  strong ;  they  endure  great 
punishment.  She  is  in  the  ice  getting  knocks  that  one  would 
think  would  go  right  through  her,  but  the  men  seem  to  think 
nothing  of  it.  We  are  treated  with  the  greatest  kindness  by 
them  ;  they  never  think  they  are  doing  enough  for  us. 

May  4.  Surrounded  in  the  ico.  Gale  continued  last  night 
and  this  morning ;  lost  its  force  at  noon.  Had  divine  service 
toKiny — the  first  we  have  had  since  Captain  Hall's  death. 
We  had  some  of  the  bear-meat  left  when  the  steamer  came 
along ;  so  the  bear  saw  us  out  of  danger  and  the  Tigress  took 
us  from  it. 

May  T).  The  steamer  beset  in  the  ice.  A  man  from  aloft 
saw  a  large  numl)er  of  seals,  some  foiu'  or  five  miles  olT.  All 
hands  over  the  side,  and  made  for  them.  The  captain's  son 
no  sooner  arrived  there  and  fired  the  first  shot  than  the  cart- 
ridge burst,  and  shattered  his  hand  very  badly.    Some  of  the 


m 


f 


f 


,i    1 


U         I 


■i'.:,  I 


■  I 


I  ■' 


'; 


if      ' 

a! 


''f 


768 


JOHN  HEBRON  S  DIART. 


men  came  back  with  him,  spoiling  their  work  for  some  time. 
They  killed  seven  or  eight  hundred  seals  before  sunset.  The 
steamer  could  not  come  to  their  assistance,  so  they  left  them 
on  the  ice  all  night. 

May  6.  The  crew  started  for  their  seals  at  the  first  streak 
of  day.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  stolen  by  the  other  steam- 
ers. 

May  7.  Blowing  a  heavy  gale  all  night,  N.  W.  Seven 
A.  M.,  turned  her  head  S.,  and  are  rmming  out  the  ice ;  looks 
like  going  home. 

May  8.  Will  be  in  St.  John's  early  in  the  morning,  I 
think  4  P.  M.  Wo  are  going  to  Bay  Roberts  first,  to  land  the 
boats  and  sealing-gear.    Then  they  will  start  for  St.  John's. 

May  9.  Bay  Roberts.  Went  on  shore  where  we  wore  re- 
ceived very  kindly  by  the  inhabitants.  Tlic  American  consul 
from  Harbor  Grace,  and  other  gentlemen,  came  to  see  us, 
and  were  very  kind  doing  all  they  possibly  could.  We  are 
getting  paid  for  our  sufferings  on  the  ice.  It  is  a  very  splen- 
did bay,  with  very  neat  and  comfortable  houses.  The  peo- 
ple are  very  intelligent  and  kind. 


•.'"'SSfl^^iS 


l(    i 


I: 


Ml 


■*s 


'ii  n 


I     i! 


POLAR] 


( 

The  8t( 
of  the  ice- 
fate  of  th( 
of  the  wn 
mth  her  ( 
of  Greenlf 
of  the  Na> 
to  search  i 
As  the  { 
vice  at  liis 
able  one,  t] 
the  Polaris 
This  vessel 
particularlj 
price  paid  j 
New  York 
ing  her  for 
menced  at  1 
The  Seer 
Juniata,  wli 
a  cable  froi 
should  give 


CHAPTER  XLVm. 

POLARIS    SEARCH   AND   RELIEF    EXPEDL 

TIONS. 

(cruise  of  the  JUNIATA  AND  TIORES9.)  , 

The  story  told  by  Cajit.  Tyson  and  his  companions 
of  the  ice-drift,  excited  deep  apprehensions  as  to  the 
fate  of  the  balance  of  tlie  Polaris  crew,  who,  in  case 
of  the  Avreck  of  their  ship,  had  jirobably  gone  down 
>vith  her  or  were  imprisoned  on  the  ice-bound  shores 
of  Greenland ;  and  it  ^^'as  resolved  by  the  Secretaiy 
of  the  Navy  that  one  or  more  vessels  should  be  sent 
to  search  for  the  missing  navigatoi-s. 

As  the  Secretary  had  no  vessel  suitable  for  this  ser- 
vice at  his  command  he  j)urchased,  as  the  most  avail- 
able one,  the  Tigress — the  same  steamer  which  rescued 
the  Polaris  party  from  the  ice  off  the  Lal)rador  coast. 
This  vessel  was  built  expressly  for  sealing,  and  was 
particularly  adapted  for  sailing  among  ice-floes.  The 
price  paid  for  this  ship  Avas  !tN()(),000.  She  arrived  at 
New  York  on  the  28th  of  June,  and  the  work  of  prepar- 
ing her  for  the  proposed  tri})  m  as  inuuediately  com- 
menced at  the  Brooklyn  Navy-yard. 

The  Secretary  also  directed  that  the  U.  S.  steamer 
Juniata,  which  had  been  fitted  uj)  to  assist  in  laying 
a  cable  from  the  Bermuda's  to  the  Atlantic  coast, 
should  give  up  that  enterprise  and  be  sent  to  the 


1 

P 

(■'■       ■■    " 

iii-*v 

i,i*i 

■|-f:l^ 

in,  I 

n^ 

jl^is!  ; 

110 


THE  JUNIATA. 


Lower  Greenland  settlements  to  assist  in  the  search. 
Preparations  for  her  voyage  were  speedily  made; 
and  with  a  load  of  coal  and  ample  provisions,  from 
which  she  was  to  supply  the  Tigress,  and  the  Polaris 
if  found,  she  started  from  New  York  on  the  24th  of 
June.  She  was  manned  by  one  hundred  and  thirty 
men  and  carried  two  light  guns.  Besides  her  own 
boats,  she  carried  a  large  steam  launch  intended  for 
expeditions  further  noith  than  the  Juniata  could 
safely  go.  The  follomng  is  a  list  of  the  principal 
officers  of  the  exjiedition  : — 

Daniel  L.  Braine,  Commander. 
Edgar  C  Merrimtn,  Executive  Officer.        George  W.  DeLong,  Navigator. 
George  E.  Ide,  Edward  J.  McClelland,        Charier  ^^  Cliipp,  Lieutenants. 
Wm.  F.  Bull  ey,  Samuel  E.  Comley,  Sidney  H.  Hay,  John  D.  Keeler,  Ensigiu. 
Frederick  E.  Upton,  Master,  J.  J.  Hunker,  Midshipman. 

T.  0.  Walton,  Surgeon.  B.  F.  Rogers,  Assistant  Surgeon. 

T.  S.  Thompson,  Passed  Assistant  Paymaster. 

The  Juniata  an-ived  at  St.  John's  on  the  30th  of 
June,  and  after  several  days  of  additional  preparations 
for  her  hazardous  trip  started  for  the  Greenland 
coast,  and  reached  Disco  Island  on  the  2 2d  of  July. 
Here  a  number  of  sledge  dogs  were  procured,  coal  for 
the  Tigress  landed,  and  other  preparations  for  that 
vessel  completed.  The  Juniata  then  left  Disco,  July 
29th,  and  reached  Upemavik  on  the  Slst. 

As  Upemavik  was  as  far  north  as  the  Juniata  could 
be  expected  to  go,  her  magnificent  steam  launch  tho 
"  Little  Juniata,"  was  here  put  afloat,  and  thoroughly 
equipped  for  a  voyage  up  the  coast  in  search  of  the 
missing  party.  She  was  commanded  on  this  trip  by 
Lt.  DeLong,  and  her  crew  consisted  of  eight  volun- 
teere  and  an  ice  pilot.  She  steamed  northwai'd  on 
the  2d  of  August,  amid  the  enthusiastic  cheers  of  the 
Juniata  crew  and  spectators,  and  reached  Tessuisak 
at  midnight  of  the  same  day. 


CBUISB  OF   THE   UTTLE  JUKIATA. 


771 


The  next  morning  the  Little  Juniata  was  pushed 
cautiously  on,  in  full  view  of  immense  fields  of  ice  and 
between  huge  floating  icebergs.  On  the  night  of  the 
4th  they  reached  Duck  Islands  and  Wilcox  Head, 
where  they  were  enveloped  in  a  dense  fog,  and  en- 
tangled in  an  ice-pack,  through  which  they  escaped 
to  the  westward  after  a  twelve  hours'  struggle  with 
the  floes. 

Entering  Melville  Bay  on  the  6th,  they  sighted 
Cape  York  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  and  headed 
towards  tl .  land  which  was  capped  with  a  dense  fog. 
Two  hours  later  a  gale  arose  which  increased  to  a 
frightful  tempest,  and  the  launch  was  for  thirty-six 
hours  on  the  edge  of  the  ice-pack  in  a  dangerous  posi- 
tion ;  as  it  was  impossible  to  land  and  no  progress 
could  be  made  to  the  north,  the  explorers  headed 
south,  and  arrived  off  Tessuisak  on  the  11th,  where 
they  met  the  Tigress  which  had  arrived  on  the  scene 
of  action. 

The  steamer  Tigress  left  the  Brooklyn  Navy -yard 
for  her  humane  undertaking  on  the  14th  of  July, 
at  5  P.  M.,  amid  repeated  cheers  from  the  seamen  of 
the  "Brooklyn,"  "Vermont,"  and  other  ships.  She 
steamed  slowly  up  the  East  River  toward  Long  Island 
Sound,  and  as  she  passed  the  Government  battery  it 
fired  one  farewell  shot  as  a  parting  salute.  Her  offi- 
<Jers  were  as  follows : — 

James  A.  Oreer,  Commander.  Henry  Q.  W.iite,  Executive  Officer. 

R  M.  Berry,  Uriel  Scbree,  George  F.  Wilkins,  Lieutenants. 
George  E.  Baughman,  Paymaster.  J.  W.  Elston,  Surgeon, 

George  E.  Tyson,  W.  K.  Chipman,  Ice-masters. 

The  Esquimaux,  Hans  and  his  family  were  sent 
home  in  the  Tigress ;  and  Joe  accompanied  the  expe- 
dition as  interpreter.  His  wife  Hannah,  with  "  Pun- 
na,"  remained  at  Wiscasset,  Maine,  where  she  had 


!!," 


W'^k 


• .  I'-i 


■■J . 


m 


ABOUT  "HANNAH." 


been  keeping  lionse  for  the  whole  Esquimaux  party, 
who  had  been  sent  thither  by  the  Government  after 
the  investigation  at  Washington.  The  following  is  a 
copy  of  a  letter  written  by  her  to  Mrs.  Buddington,  at 
Groton,  as  published  in  the  Springfield  Hepublican. 
The  "  old  man  "  refers  to  Capt.  Buddington  ;  his  sub- 
sequent safe  arrival  home  shows  that  Hannah  is  some- 
thing of  a  prophetess.  The  "  eight  children  "  means 
the  party  under  her  care. 

"WiscAssET,  June  22d,  1873. 

"  Sarah  Mother  Buddington : — I  shall  never  forget 
you.  I  now  try  to  Avrite  you.  I  am  well ;  Joe  well ; 
Punna  veiy  sick  for  34  days,  little  better  now.  I 
like  to  see  you  once  more.  So  good  to  me.  I  never 
have  time  to  do  anything.  Ilans's  four  children  here 
too.  I  got  eight  children  ;  no  go  with  them  home. 
October  15,  1872,  we  come  home  down  on  ice.  Old 
man  come  by-and-by ;  he  well.         Hannah  Lito." 

The  same  paper  states  that  Mre.  Buddington  visited 
Hannah  at  Wiscasset  after  the  sailing  of  the  Tigress, 
and  on  suggesting  to  her  that  she  should  return  to 
Groton,  Hannah  with  exceptionable  Esquimaux  thrift 
replied : — 

"  What,  and  leave  all  these  victuals  for  other  people 
to  eat  up !  No ;  Punna  and  I  shall  stay  till  it  is  all 
eaten." 

The  Tigress  reached  Disco,  via  St.  John's,  on  tlie 
4th  of  August,  and  joined  the  Juniata  at  Disco  on 
the  10th.  Starting  north  the  next  day,  the  Tigi'ess 
met  Lt.  De  Long  returning  from  his  excursion,  who 
boarded  the  steamer  and  reported  to  her  commander 
the  route  and  incidents  of  his  trip.  The  Tigress  then 
steamed  on  across  Melville  Bay,  and  approached 
Northumberland  Island  near  which  the  Polaris  was 


1    s^ 


irift 


)ple 


tlie 
on 


w 


ho 
Luder 
tlien 


was 


I 


!■,    I' 


■v; 


'■I  \ 


i  '* 


iH: 


1  ';..^ 


k<i;i 


Si^:: 


S!*i''f 


report 
closelj 
be  fou 
nize  it 
ship. 

Com 

vv])on  1 

Kane'a 

recogni 

from  t 

after^vt 

a  sou II (I 

boat  ^v 

amid  gi 

atioji  vv 

"Ise. 

and  mo 

The  I 

ing  tidi 

wei-e  no 

ashore  a 

A  cit) 

^vomen  ti 

at  the  Hi 

said  that 

expeditic 

pai-ty  alJ 

started  » 

hatch. 

A  com 
it  bunks, 
iustnmiei] 
about  in 
"»g  fire-arj 


THE  nOBESS  ON  THE  TRAIL. 


778 


reported  to  have  been  last  seen.  This  island  was 
closely  scrutinized,  but  no  traces  of  the  J''  lai-is  could 
be  found,  nor  could  Tyson  and  the  Esiiuimuux  recog- 
nize it  as  the  locality  in  which  they  parted  fiom  that 
ship. 

Commander  Greer  then  proceeded  novtliward,  and 
winm  near  Cape  Ohlseii — so  nanifd  fruui  one  of  Dr. 
Kane's  crew  who  was  buried  near  by — Capt.  Tyson 
recognized  a  rock  as  the  one  which  hid  the  Polaris 
from  the  view  of  the  party  left  on  the  floe.  Soon 
afterward,  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  14th, 
a  sound  (»f  human  voices  was  heard  in  the  distance.  A 
boat  was  instantly  lowered  and  started  for  the  shore 
amid  great  excitement,  which  was  mingleil  with  exult- 
atioii  when  Greer  exclaimed : — 

"  I  see  their  house ;  two  tents  are  clearly  percpptilde, 
and  moving  figures  can  be  seen  on  the  mainland." 

The  boat  returned  in  an  hour,  with  the  disappoint- 
ing tidings  that  Captain  Buddington  and  his  party 
were  not  on  the  coast.  Commander  Greer  now  went 
ashore  accompanied  by  Joe  as  interpreter,  and  otheiu 

A  crowd  of  Esquimaux  consisting  of  five  men,  two 
^vomen  and  two  children,  greeted  them  on  their  anival 
at  the  shore,  and  seemed  quite  intelligent.  They 
said  that  they  came  from  Pond's  Bay  on  a  hunting 
expedition,  and  had  remaineii  with  the  Buddington 
party  all  winter;  the  latter  had  ])uilt  t\:o  boats,  and 
started  south  at  the  time  when  the  ducks  began  to 
hatch. 

A  comfortable  wooden  house  was  found,  having  in 
it  bunks,  mattresses,  furniture,  galley,  etc.  Provisions, 
instruments,  books  and  other  articles  were  scattered 
about  in  every  direction.  Ai  tides  of  value,  includ- 
ing fire-arms  and  the  ship's  bell,  with  manuscript  mat 


m  i 


m 

ii"     ( 


!    i 


■■'HMi  ■ 


ti¥ 


'7*7 


774 


BUDDINGTON  8   CAMP  DISCOVERED. 


ter  and  a  mutilated  log-book  were  taken  aboard  the 
Tigress.  Nothing  respecting  the  departiiie  or  desti- 
naliou  of  the  crew  could  be  found.  A  cairn  evidently 
built  by  them  was  examined,  but  contained  only  seal- 
blubber. 

The  Esquimaux  stated  that  Buddington  had  given 
them  his  ship,  but  that  when  the  ice  broke  up  in  the 
middle  of  July,  it  floated  into  a  cove  and  sunk.  They 
pointed  out  the  place  where  it  lay  iti  nine  fathoms 
of  water  with  a  grounded  iceberg  above  it.  These 
natives  had  no  boats  and  but  little  food,  and  occu- 
pied two  tents  evidently  from  the  Polaris.  They 
intimated  that  they  would  like  to  take  a  trip  in  the 
Tigress. 

This  deserted  camp  of  the  Polaris  crew  was  on  the 
mainland  opposite  Littleton  Island,  at  the  place  desig- 
nated by  Dr.  Kane  as  "  Life  Boat  Cove."  The  i)lace 
is  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Northumberland  Island ; 
the  ice-floe  party  had  been  mistaken  as  to  the  locality 
of  their  separation  with  the  ship. 

At  a  qiuirter  i)ast  two  in  the  morning,  after  a  halt 
of  only  five  lioui-s,  the  Tigress  started  on  its  return 
south,  and  ariived  at  Godhavn  on  the  'Jotli,  where 
the  Juniata  awaited  her  arrival.  After  taking  in 
coal  and  supplies.  Commander  Greer  started  for  Da- 
vis's Strait  and  the  Labrador  Coast.  The  Juniata 
steamed  for  St.  John's,  and  reached  there  on  the 
morning  of  Sept.  10th.  Here  Commander  Braine 
reported  by  telegra}>h  to  tlie  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
who  immediately  directed  a  continuance  of  the  search 
by  both  vessels. 

In  obedience  to  these  orders  the  Juniata  left  St. 
John's  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  the  intention  be- 
ing to  proceed  up  the  Labrador  Coast  and  then  to 


visi 

can: 

disc 

the 

unk 

T] 

light 

were 

Bi'aii 

answi 

nient 

Was  a 

I*o]ari 

the  T 

aboard 

"Sh 

"Isi 

«Yef 

"We 

A  b( 

which  ( 

sttaniei 

receivec 

at  Dun( 

i'eeei])t 

folJow 

The  ne^^ 

Vessels 

Tigress  ; 

^'leventf 
Jers. 


lialt 
etuni 
here 
vj,  in 

V  Da- 
iniiita 

V  tlie 
lvalue 
iNavy, 

earoli 

kt  St. 
I«.n  ^>P- 
lieu  to 


SIGNALING  TUE  JUNIATA    AT  NIGHT. 


775 


visit  other  places  as  might  seem  expedient.  As  night 
came  on  the  prospects  of  the  voyage  were  gloomy  and 
discouraging.  Ice  was  forming,  the  weather  was  bad, 
the  sea  heavy,  and  the  whereabouts  of  the  Tigress 
unknown.  ^ 

The  night  was  very  dark,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  a 
light  was  rei)oi*ted  on  the  poit  beam.  Rockets  too 
were  v/oserved  from  a  far-off  steamer.  Commander 
Braine  ordered  the  Juniata  to  be  slowed  down,  and 
answered  the  signals.  There  was  the  greatest  excite- 
ment on  board.  A  steamer  in  this  sea  at  this  time 
was  a  rare  thing,  and  it  was  felt  that  news  from  the 
Polaris  was  at  hand.  The  steamer,  supposed  to  be 
the  Tigress,  api)roached,  and  at  midnight  was  close 
aboard  ;  soon  a  shout  came  over  the  water : — 

"Ship  ahoy!" 

"  Ay,  ay,"  was  answered  from  the  Juniata. 

"  Is  that  the  Juniata  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  We  have  tlie  American  Consul  aboard." 

A  boat  was  immediately  lowered  from  the  Juniata, 
which  conveyed  Consul  Molloy  of  St.  John's  to  that 
8t«  amer.  He  informed  her  commander  that  he  had 
re<  eived  a  telegram  that  the  Polaris  crew  had  arrived 
at  Dundee,  Scotland,  in  a  whaling  vessel ;  and  that,  on 
receii)t  of  the  dispatch,  he  had  chartered  a  steamer  to 
follow  the  Juniata  and  attempt  to  overtake  her. 
The  news  was  received  with  great  delight,  and  both 
vessels  returned  to  St.  John's ;  at  which  port  the 
Tigress  also  arrived  on  the  16th  of  October,  after  an 
uneventful  cruise  in  the  track  of  the  Northern  wha- 
lers. 


i:! 


!'l 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 
THE  WRECK  OF  THE  POLARIS. 

Having  given  an  account  of  the  organization,  out- 
ward voyage,  and  discoveries  of  the  Polaris  Expedi- 
tion, the  death  of  its  commander,  the  wintering  at 
Thank  God  Harbor,  the  disastrous  division  of  its 
members,  the  perilous  drift  on  the  floes  of  a  portion 
of  them,  and  the  search  made  for  the  missing  steamer, 
it  remains  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Polaris  from 
the  15th  of  October,  1872,  when,  with  fourteen  men 
on  board  of  her,  she  parted  her  hawsers  and  was 
swept  away  amid  the  storm  and  darkness ;  and  the 
story  of  the  experiences  of  Capt.  Buddington  and 
his  party,  may  perhaps  be  best  told  in  his  o\vn 
words : — 

"At  five  p.  M.  on  the  12th  of  August,  we  started 
from  Polaris  Bay  for  tlie  United  States.  We  drifted 
through  the  ice  till  the  29th,  when  we  were  locked 
fast  in  the  ice-pack  and  drifted  with  it.  We  were 
still  leaking  fast,  but  the  donkey  engine  enabled  us 
to  keep  the  water  under.  I  rigged  out  a  house  on 
the  floe,  calculated  to  hold  all  our  hands — thirty-three 
in  number.  It  was  twenty-seven  by  twenty-four  feet 
and  was  covered  with  canvas.  On  the  0th  of  Octo- 
ber I  had  bags  of  bread  placed  in  it.  We  were  still 
drifting  south,  our  position  being  78"  45^'  North,  72*' 
15'  West. 

776 


fort 

had 

floe 

whi( 

nip, 

our  g 

keeli 

me  t 

aft. 

Water 

"Tj 

dren  ; 

it  did 

remaiE 

ered  o 

ftlongsi 

ftiel  to 

with  r 

except 

sudden 

made 

bow  ] 

sJippec 
adrift  a 

a  mora( 

than  ha 

"We 

anchors, 

reflectioi 

soon  rea( 

V 


CAPTAIN   BUDDINGTON  8   NARRATIVE. 


777 


"  On  tine  loth,  the  wind  blew  with  a  velocity  of 
forty  miles,  accompanied  by  a  violent  snow-storm.  I 
had  another  hawser  passed  out  to  the  old  massive 
floe  which  had  brought  us  down  from  lat.  80",  and 
which  was  our  only  safety.  At  7.30  we  had  a  severe 
nip,  from  a  hea\7^  old  floe  which  passed  heavily  on 
our  starboard  side,  raising  the  vessel  a  few  feet  and 
keeling  her  over  to  port.  It  was  then  reported  to 
me  that  we  were  making  water  fast  and  were  ove 
aft.  Our  engines  could  no  longer  cope  with  the 
water. 

"  The  two  native  Esquimaux  had  their  wives,  chil- 
dren and  effects  on  the  floe,  it  seeming  to  them,  as 
it  did  indeed  to  all  of  us,  the  safest  place.  Our 
remaining  two  whale  boats — all  we  had — were  low- 
ered on  the  ice  and  hauled  back  to  a  secure  place 
alongside  of  the  stores.  Sufficient  provisions  and 
fuel  to  last  all  winter  were  put  on  the  ice,  together 
with  musk-ox  skins,  bedding,  and  all  the  clothing 
except  what  we  wore.  At  half-past  nine  the  floe 
suddenly  broke ;  that  part  to  which  the  vessel  was 
made  fast  breaking  away  from  i.ie  main  body.  The 
bow  hawser  snapped  like  pack-thread,  the  anchors 
slipped,  and  the  violence  of  the  wind  sent  the  vessel 
adrift  as  rapidly  as  if  she  hud  been  under  steam.  At 
a  moment's  notice  we  were  thus  separated  from  more 
than  half  the  ship's  company. 

"  We  were  now  in  a  critical  condition,  without  boats, 
anchors,  or  hawsers;  but  there  was  no  time  for 
reflection,  as  the  water  was  gainitjg  fast,  and  would 
soon  reach  the  furnace  fires  in  spite  of  the  bilge  pump 
which  was  all  this  time  at  work,  assisted  by  the 
alle''way  pump ;  and  if  we  could  not  start  the  deck 
puL.ps  it  was  evident  that  the  vessel  would  go  down. 


J    •:■ 


1 


M 


■fl 

J  ;    ..     .       .                ■ 

I     .    ■           ■:  ' 

i 

i 

1 

ii, '  '•  \ 

jl|iii|| 

778 


THE  POLARIS   WBEOKED   AlTD   DESERTED. 


The  ice  around  us  was  fine  broken  "  brash,"  which 
would  not  bear  the  weight  of  a  man.  By  this  time 
the  water  in  the  boiler  was  hot,  and,  by  pouring 
several  bucketfiils  down  the  pumps,  we  thawed  them 
suflSciently  so  as  to  enable  us  to  keep  the  water  from 
gaining ;  and  never  did  men  use  their  strength  with 
more  energy  than  we  did  on  that  occasion.  It  was 
evident  we  could  not  last  long  at  the  work,  but  fortu- 
nately, just  then,  the  engineers  reported  steam  up,  by 
whicu  additional  aid  we  were  enabled  to  keep  the 
ship  afloat. 

"On  the  morning  of  the  16th  we  found  our  position 
a  few  miles  north  of  Littleton  Island,  in  Smith's 
Straits.  The  gale  had  then  subsided,  and  it  was 
shortly  afterwards  quite  calm.  We  looked  from  the 
masthead  of  our  vessel  for  our  companions  on  the  floe, 
but  could  not  see  anything  of  them  whatever.  The 
current  must  have  taken  them  in  a  diflferent  direction 
from  the  course  the  wind  took  us.  About  noon  a 
breeze  sprung  up  from  the  north,  and,  opening  a  lead 
in-shore  to  the  east,  the  vessel  at  this  time  began 
drifting  out  of  the  straits  again.  By  the  aid  of  steam 
and  sail  I  took  advantage  of  the  lead  when  opened 
wide  enough  to  admit  me,  and  ran  the  vessel  as  near 
shore  as  the  ice  would  allow,  and  made  fast  with  lines 
to  heavy  grounded  hummocka  Here  we  were 
aground  at  low  water,  there  being  nine  feet  rise  of 
tide  at  this  place,  which  happened  to  be  Kane's  Life- 
boat Cove,  lat.  78«*  23^'  N.,  long.  73«  21 '  W.  We 
kept  an  anxious  lookout  all  the  time  from  the  mast- 
head of  our  vessel  for  signs  of  the  party ;  but  the 
sharpest  eyes  on  shipboard  failed  to  see  aught  of  them. 
As,  however,  they  had  the  boats,  even  to  the  little 
scow,  we  were  in  hopes  they  would  possibly  be  able 
yet  to  make  for  us. 


stem 

calle( 

she  } 

theP 

aratio 

the  w 

ions  o 

Esqui] 

ashore 

gesticu 

we  too 

cheered 

on  shoi 

those  n 

ting  pre 

deal  of d 

piece  of 

some  of 

get  wet, 

tile  inau 

change. 

"Ont 

Esquima 

tindJy  w 

service. 

articles 

presents 

expressec 

that,  am< 

number  o| 

maux— a  i 
us  for 

*bandonir 


PREPARING   FOR  WINTER. 


779 


''On  the  17th  I  surveyed  the  ship,  and  found  the 
stem  entirely  broken  off  below  the  six-foot  mark.  I 
called  the  officer's  attention  to  it,  who  only  wondered 
she  had  kej)t  afloat  so  long.  I  therefore  considered 
the  Polaris  a  lost  vessel,  and  immediately  made  prep- 
arations for  leaving  her  and  living  on  shore  during 
the  winter,  getting  our  spare  sails,  coals  and  provis- 
ions on  shore.  We  were  assisted  in  this  by  the  Etah 
Esquimaux,  who  came  to  us  the  day  after  we  got 
ashore.  When  these  Esquimaux  hove  in  sight, 
gesticulating  and  hoUooing  with  great  apparent  glee, 
we  took  them  to  be  our  castaways,  and  immediately 
cheered  most  heartily  in  return.  We  put  uj)  a  house 
on  shore,  which  was  superintended  by  Mr.  Chester, 
those  not  engaged  in  building  it  being  occupied  get- 
ting provisions  and  fuel,  which  they  did  with  a  great 
deal  of  difficulty,  as  they  had  to  leap  from  one  detached 
piece  of  ice  to  another  all  the  Avay  to  the  shore.  Often 
some  of  the  party  would  tumble  through  fissures  and 
get  wet,  which  was  a  great  inconvenience,  considering 
the  insufficient  supply  our  wardrobe  furnished  for 
change. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  we  had  a  number  of 
Esquimaux  visitors.  They  came  in  five  sledges,  and 
kindly  went  to  work  to  assist  us,  proving  of  excellent 
service.  In  a  short  time  we  had  all  the  portable 
articles  from  the  ship  on  shore.  I  made  them  such 
presents  as  our  scanty  stock  would  permit,  and  they 
expressed  themselves  well  pleased.  It  was  fortunate 
that,  among  other  articles  put  on  the  floe,  were  a 
number  of  those  indispensable  articles  to  an  Esqui- 
maux— a  quantity  of  knives.  On  the  24th  they  left 
us  for  Etah,  we  having  completed  our  work  for 
abandoning  the  vessel.    At  six  P.  M.  we  stopped  the 


la.  t. 


I"  I' 


I 


1 1. 


i:  f 


780 


VISIT  FROM  THE  NATIVES. 


steam  pnmps  to  let  her  fill,  and  bid  farewell  to  the 
little  Polaris  which  had  penetrated  through  dangers 
and  hard  knocks  to  a  high  latitude,  but  which  was 
destined  not  to  return  with  the  honors  she  had  gained. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  month  we  were  visited 
by  natives — men,  women,  and  children. 

"  I  sent  a  party  to  McGary's  Rock  in  search  of  Dr. 
Hayes'  boat  and  provisions,  but  could  discover  no 
sign  of  her.  I  was  afterwards  informed  by  the 
natives,  that  a  party  from  the  West  Land  found  her 
five  years  ago  and  appropriated  to  their  own  use  what 
was  serviceable  to  them  ;  the  boat  they  discovered  to 
be  worthless  and  full  of  holes.  At  high  water  the 
lower  decks  of  the  Polaris  were  covered,  the  water 
rising  to  within  three  feet  of  the  upper  deck,  the  ves- 
sel being  firm  on  the  rocks.  I  was  in  hopes  she 
would  remain  in  that  position,  as  we  had  to  get  fuel 
from  her,  and  material  for  making  our  boats  for  our 
.  summer  journey  south. 

"  We  spent  the  winter  months  of  November,  Decem- 
ber and  January  in  household  duties — getting  ice  for 
melting  purposes,  supplying  galley  and  house  stoves 
with  coal,  and  keeping  passage  ways  to  and  from  the 
house  free  from  snow.  A  great  many  foxes  were  shot. 
We  were  visited  continually  by  the  natives,  who 
were  suffering  a  great  deal  from  cold  and  hunger. 
Several  of  the  families  made  their  residence  with  us 
for  the  most  of  the  winter,  building  snow-huts  for 
themselves,  where  they  slept.  We  supplied  them 
with  a  share  of  the  provisions  we  had,  but  still  they 
had  to  kill  a  great  many  of  their  dogs  in  order  to 
give  their  children  fresh  meat.  Two  families  in  par- 
ticular reduced  their  team  of  dogs  to  one,  and  another 
family  to  two. 


THE   WINTER  AT   LIFE-BOAT  COVE. 


781 


"  Some  of  our  people  had  slight  attacks  of  scurvy, 
principally  in  the  gums,  but  in  general  the  health  of 
our  party  remained  good.  The  month  of  February 
brought  us  daylight.  On  the  15th,  the  sun  was  seen 
for  the  first  time  since  its  disappearance  on  the  16th 
»f  November.  We  had  now  to  consume  the  bowsprit, 
masts  and  rigging  for  fuel,  these  fortunately  having 
been  landed.  The  only  material  for  building  boats 
was  the  ceiling  of  the  alley-ways  and  after-cabin — the 
house  on  deck  being  used  as  fuel.  The  following 
months  were  occupied  in  building  boats  for  our  jour- 
ney. 

"  Shooting  parties  went  out  occasionally,  but,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  hares,  generally  returned 
unsuccessful.  There  was  one  deer  killed  during  the 
season,  but  a  great  many  were  seen.  Although  the 
natives  had  left  us  some  time  for  their  respective  set- 
tlements and  hunting  grounds,  they  still,  however, 
continued  to  visit  us ;  and,  as  if  to  remind  us  of  our 
former  kindness  to  them,  which  they  appeared  to 
have  appreciated,  kept  bringing  to  us  quantities  of 
walrus  liver,  which  made  a  great  improvement  in  the 
health  of  our  party. 

*'  I  had  suitable  bags  made  out  of  the  foresail,  and 
filled  them  with  provisions  for  our  journey.  I  also 
built  a  small  boat  uut  of  some  square  lumber  for  the 
Etah  natives,  which  will  bo  a  great  acquisition  to 
them  in  sealing  and  getting  eggs  from  the  islands. 
By  the  28th  of  May  all  our  preparations  were  made. 
I  must  compliment  Mr.  Chester,  who  superintended 
the  building  of  these  boats.  They  are  creditable 
scows — far  better  structures  than  I  thought  could 
have  been  made  out  of  the  material  we  had.  They 
are  flat-bottomed,  and  carry  considerable  weight.  The 
45 


ij.-f: 


.;    (   h 


782 


THE   START   HOMEWARD. 


open  water  was  by  this  time  close  up  to  our  house. 
Our  provisions  and  what  limited  clothing  we  were  to 
take  with  us,  were  brought  down  to  the  water's  edge 
to  be  in  readiness  for  embarka  s.  There  still 
remained  with  us  two  native  famil  (  ,  and  during  the 
winter  and  spring  we  were  visited  by  nearly  all  the 
natives  from  Etah  to  Cape  York.  There  were  diuing 
this  time  three  deaths  and  one  birth  among  the 
natives.  One  of  the  former  was  Myouk,  (mentioned 
by  Dr.  Kane,)  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  visit  us 
after  our  vessel  got  on  shore. 

"I  had  intended  starting  on  the  1st  of  June,  but 
that  day  being  Sunday  I  postponed  our  departure 
until  the  following  day.  It  was  then  blowing  a  gale 
of  wind  and  we  could  not  start  with  safety.  In  the 
meantime  we  deposited  several  boxes  containing 
books,  scientific  instraments,  three-box  chronometers 
and  the  pendulum,  on  the  north  side  of  Lifeboat  Cove, 
and  covered  them  with  rocks.  At  1  a.  m.,  on  June 
3d,  I  called  all  hands,  got  a  hasty  breakfast,  and  left 
our  house  for  the  last  time,  dividing  our  party  into 
two  equal  parts.  We  then  launched  our  boats,  two 
in  number,  placed  our  provisions  and  clothing  in 
them,  and  left  Polaris  Point  and  the  scenes  of  our 
long  winter  stay,  for  Melville  Bay  and  Ui>ernavik. 

"  Having  made  a  halt  at  the  settlement  of  Etah, 
which  we  found  deserted,  we  reached  Hakluyt 
Island  late  on  the  evening  of  the  4th,  meeting  with 
but  little  obstruction  from  ice.  A  gale  of  wind  and 
pack  ice  prevented  us  leaving  until  the  8th.  We 
then  landed  on  Northumberland  Island.  The  ice 
impeded  our  further  progress.  At  eight  p.  m.  on  the 
10th,  having  previously  made  three  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  get  forward,  we  entered  a  lead  that 


our 
of  J 

com 
tok 

morn 

«ncar 

the  si 

the  Ja 

Wecc 

and  b( 

of  exer 

a  landi 

same  pj 

there  w 

10.30,  a 

iand.     1 

Blackivc 
clarence 
landed 
met  \v[ty 

^^'eather. 
stenhoir 

entered  ., 
t'ons  frot^ 

^»r  boats 
other. 

"  ^e  ,1 

^^tn  the 

^^'■p  besei 
'^boufc  t\yel 


THE  JOURNEY   SOUTHWARD. 


783 


extended  across  the  whole  sound  toward  Cape  Parry, 
our  intended  route.  We  were  met  by  a  heavy  body 
of  pack  ice  which  completely  closed  us  in,  and  were 
compelled  hastily  to  haul  our  loaded  boats  on  the  ice 
to  keep  them  from  being  cnished. 

"  We  drifted  with  the  pack  all  that  night,  and  the 
morning  of  the  11th  found  us  abreast  of  our  former 
encampment  We  were  then  about  four  miles  from 
the  shore.  There  was  a  small  lead  of  water  along 
the  land.  We  had  to  go  to  it  or  go  adrift  in  the  pack. 
We  commenced  at  once  to  transport  our  provisions 
and  boats  over  the  pieces  of  floe.  After  a  great .  deal 
of  exertion  and  labor,  we  finally  succeeded  in  getting 
a  landing,  at  2.30,  on  the  morning  of  the  11th,  in  the 
same  place  we  left  the  evening  before.  On  the  1 2th 
there  was  a  good  opening  in  the  ice.  We  started  at 
10.30,  and  with  a  good  breeze  we  reached  the  main- 
land. We  pulled  round  Cape  Parry,  and  halted  on 
Blackwood  Point  south  of  Cape  Parry  and  near  Fitz- 
clarence  Rock.  On  the  evening  of  the  next  day  we 
landed  at  Dalrymple  Island.  From  this  point  we 
met  with  various  obstructions  from  ice  and  bad 
weather.  We  finally  succeeded  in  getting  past  Wol- 
stenholm  Sound  and  Cape  York.  We  afterwards 
entered  Melville  Bay,  meeting  with  various  obstruc- 
tions from  ice,  and  in  some  places  we  had  to  haul 
our  boats  and  effects  over  from  the  one  lead  to  the 
other. 

"  We  were  thus  proceeding  on  our  Journey  south 
until  the  morning  of  June  23d,  when  we  saw  a  steam- 
ship beset  about  ten  miles  south.  We  were  then 
about  twenty-five  miles  south-east  of  Cape  York,  and 
hauled  up  on  the  ice.  The  passage  was  completely 
blocked  with  ice.    A  few  hours  previous  to  this  my 


784 


BESOUED   BY  TnS   BATENSCBAia. 


boat  got  stove,  having  been  caught  between  the  floe 
and  land  ice ;  but  we  had  it  repaired  with  canvas  and 
tacks  brought  for  the  purpose.  At  this  time  our  fuel 
was  very  scarce,  not  having  more  than  would  last  a 
week.  For  some  time  we  had  but  one  hot  meal  in 
twenty-four  hours,  reserving  our  fuel  for  melting 
snow  for  drinking  water,  as  we  were  unable  to  pro- 
cure any  off  the  floe. 

"  I  sent  two  of  our  party  to  the  vessel  to  let  them 
know  of  our  situation.  Before  reaching  the  vessel, 
however,  they  were  met  by  a  party  of  eiguteen  men 
from  the  ship — these  latter  having  recognized  a  party 
on  the  floe — who  had  come  to  render  what  assistance 
was  in  their  power  to  what  they  supposed  was  the 
crew  of  a  shipwrecked  whalesliip.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  two  of  the  party,  who  went  back  to  their 
vessel  with  an  account  of  u^,  the  rest  came  back  to 
the  boats  with  the  men  whom  I  had  sent.  I  made 
immediate  preparations  to  get  on  board  the  steamer, 
the  men  from  this  vessel  kindly  assisting  us  with  our 
personal  effects.  We  started  at  seven  p.  m.,  leaving 
our  boats,  provisions,  etc.,  behind,  and  arrived  at 
twelve  meridian  on  board  the  whaling  ship  Raven- 
scraig,  Kirkcaldy,  Scotland,  William  Allen,  master, 
bound  for  the  West  Coast  on  a  whaling  voyage. 

"  I  cannot  express  myself  in  terms  sufficiently  ade- 
quate of  the  kind  reception  we  got  from  Captain 
Allen,  who  immediately  opened  his  own  wardrobe 
for  our  benefit.  The  surgeon  of  the  ship,  Mr,  A.  D. 
Soutter,  was  most  assiduous  in  his  efforts  to  promote 
our  comfort — indeed,  all  the  officers  and  crew  vied 
with  each  other  in  their  efforts  to  riake  us  comfort- 
able. 

"  We  had  at  the  time  we  were  rescued  only  just 


inr 


INOIDENTa   OF  THE  RESCUE. 


785 


commenced  the  difficult  part  of  our  joumey,  and  had 
yet  to  make  some  three  hutidred  miles  of  hard  travel 
before  we  could  get  to  a  place  of  comparative  safety. 
Caj)tain  Alien  expressed  his  gratification  in  falling  in 
with  us,  as  he  and  his  officers  expi-essed  their 
undoubted  conviction  that  it  would  have  been  utterly 
impossible  for  us  to  rcacli  the  settlements  in  our  boats, 
especially  if  we  had  in  store  for  us  anything  like  the 
ice  which  the  Ravenscraig  encountered  the  previous 
three  weeks.  It  was  very  evident  that  our  boats 
would  not  have  stood  hauling  over  the  ice,  and  to 
have  abandoned  them  and  attempted  to  make  the 
joumey  on  foot  was  simply  not  to  be  entertained  a  sin- 
gle moment.  It  was,  therefore,  lucky  that  the  Raven- 
scraig fell  in  with  us.  As  I  may  say  with  safetv,  it 
was  the  saving  of  our  lives.  We  were  sui-priscU  and 
greatly  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  safety  of  our  fellow- 
explorers  who  had  got  adrift  from  us." 

Captain  Allen,  whose  ship  was  fast  in  the  ice  at 
the  time,  describes  the  incidents  of  the  rescue  as 
follows : — 

"At  one  o'clock  a.  m.,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d 
of  June,  the  lookout  from  the  crow's  nest  reported 
that  a  party,  supposed  to  be  Esquimaux,  were  making 
their  way  over  the  pack  ice  towards  the  vessel.  At 
this  time  they  were  a  long  way  distant,  probably 
thirteen  or  fourteen  miles,  and  appeared  to  move  very 
slowly.  By  nine  a.  m.  the  strangers  had  advanced  a 
mile  or  two  nearer,  and  came  to  a  halt.  We  could  then 
just  make  out  that  they  were  not  Esquimaux,  and 
could  distinguish  two  boats,  each  of  which  displayed 
a  small  flag  on  a  pole.  Owing  to  the  distance  and 
refraction  it  Avas  almost  impossible  to  make  this  out 
with  certainty.     Concluding  they  had  seen  us,  our 


786 


HOSPITALITT   OF   A  BOOTOH   WHALEB. 


ensign  was  at  once  hoisted  as  a  reply  signal,  and  we 
sent  off  eighteen  picked  men  to  render  any  assistance 
required,  while  the  strangers  were  observed  to  detach 
two  of  their  number  in  the  direction  ')f  the  vessel. 
When  these  met  our  party,  the  whole  jmx'eded  on- 
wai-d  to  the  boats,  and  a  messenger  was  sent  back  to 
inform  us  of  the  news. 

"  At  six  p.  M.  the  entire  party  started  for  the  ves- 
sel, and  some  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  traveling  over 
such  ice  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
twelve,  midnight,  before  they  got  on  board,  taking 
nearly  seven  hours  to  perform  twelve  miles  distance. 
This  arose  from  the  soft  and  slushy  state  of  the  deep 
snow  covering  the  ice,  while  myriads  (f  hujje  hum- 
mocks were  piled  everywhere  over  the  surface,  which 
was  alfio  split  up  and  full  of  treacherous  holes,  into 
which  many  a  flounder  took  place.  The  party  on 
reaching  the  ship  was  made  heartily  welcome,  and 
as  comfortable  as  the  means  at  our  command  could 
supply.  They  appeared  tired  and  weatherbeaten,  but 
in  good  spirits  and  thankful  at  having  fallen  in  with 
a  '  Scotch  whaler,'  for  which  vessels  they  were  on  the 
lookout,  knowing  as  the  commander  did,  that  the 
whalers  about  this  time  passed  through  Melville  Bay." 

After  reaching  the  North  "Water,  Captain  Budding- 
ton  and  ten  of  his  companions  were  transfen-ed  to 
the  whaling  steamer  Arctic,  and  arrived  at  Dundee 
on  the  18th  of  September.  Proceeding  to  Liverjiool, 
they  were  tendered  a  free  passage  hom"  by  several 
steamship  lines,'  and  took  passage  in  the  City  of  Ant- 
werp, which  reached  New  York  on  the  4th  of  October. 
The  other  three  men  were  taken  to  Dundee  in  the 
Intrepid,  and  arrived  home  a  little  later. 


Mi 


»;',  I 


pfflif  I 


' 

j:::^    ^ 

1 

h     >    .' 

Ill  'I   '  i 


i«!l 


incite 

baud 

tiny  V 

Bergei 

Kohle 

crew  i 

made  f; 
of  81* 
in  Alii 
I'etui'ne 
This 
neitJier 
frieii(|,> 
est  in 
expedif 
the  G(. 
and  the 
the  conn 
ditioii  A\ 
^io  too 
addition, 
eminent 


CHAPTER  L.     . 
GERMAN  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS. 

Dr.  Augustus  Petermann,  having  unsuccessfully 
Incited  his  German  countrymen  to  join  the  noble 
band  of  Arctic  explorers,  at  his  own  risk  fitted  out  a 
tiny  vessel  called  the  "Germania,"  uhich  sailed  from 
Bergen,  INIay  Sitli,  1868,  under  the  connuand  of  Karl 
Koldewey,  a  native  of  Hoya,  in  Hanover.  The  whole 
crew  aiunbered  only  eleven  men.  Being  unable  to 
apprixK'h  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  Capt.  Koldewey 
made  tor  the  Spitsbergen  seas,  and  attained  a  latitude 
of  81*  iV.  He  tlien  sailed  down  Hiido2)en  Strait 
in  Auirust,  sio-htinu:  the  "Swedish  Foreland,"  and 
returned  to  Bei-gen  Se])tember  30th,  1808. 

This  first  German  ex2)edition  was  not  a  success — 
neither  Avas  it  a  faihu'e ;  and  Dr.  Petermann  and  his 
friends  were  not  discouraijed.  It  awakened  an  inter- 
est  in  Polar  exploration  Avhich  resulted  in  a  second 
expedition  of  two  vessels — a  screw  steamer  re-named 
the  Germania  and  manned  by  a  crew  of  seventeen, 
and  the  Ijrig  Ilansa,  with  a  crew  of  fourteen,  under 
the  command  of  C;ipt.  Ilegemann.  The  whole  expe- 
dition A\as  put  under  the  command  of  Koldewey, 
who  took  as  his  flag-ship  the  "  Germania ;"  and,  in 
addition,  there  were  attaehid  to  botli  ships  several 
eminent  num  of  science,  i)rovided  with  every  requisite 

787 


t.\  ,i 


i  I'i 


_jkJb_ 


788 


DESTRUCTION   OF  THE   HANSA. 


necessary  for  the  successful  performance  of  their 
duties.  King  William  came  down  and  bade  them 
good-bye ;  a  distinguished  party  gave  them  a  farewell 
dinner,  and  out  of  the  good  harbor  of  Bremen  they 
sailed  Tnore  Teutonico  to  the  strains  of  a  brass  band, 
on  the  15th  of  June,  1860, 

In  latitude  70«"  4G',  longitude  10°  51  ^,  the  "  Ilansa," 
which  had  on  board  some  of  the  supplies  of  fuel  for 
herself  and  consort,  got  separated  from  the  "Germa- 
nia,"  and  was  caught  in  the  ice ;  and  on  the  22d  of 
October  the  ice-floes,  pressing  on  every  side,  crushed 
her.  Then,  homeless  in  the  midst  of  this  dreary  ice- 
field, with  the  winter  coming  on,  the  crew  built  on  the 
floe,  with  the  patent  fuel,  a  house  in  whicli  they  took 
refuge.  In  this  strangest  of  all  abodes  they  passed 
Christmas — not  uncheei'fully  on  the  whole.  In  two 
months  the  current  had  carried  them  south  four  hun- 
dred miles,  and  though  they  Avere  only  thirty  miles 
from  land,  it  was  impossible  to  reach  it.  On  the  27th 
of  November,  their  track-map  shows  that  they  were 
just  about  half-way  between  Greenland  and  Iceland. 
Shortly  after  their  Christmas  festivities,  the  floe  split 
and  ruined  their  house.  For  some  time  it  would 
seem  as  if  their  lives  hung  on  a  thiead.  But  they 
were  destined  for  better  things.  The  floe  righted 
again,  and  they  left  their  boats,  to  which  they  had 
been  forced  to  flee,  and  again  built  their  fuel  house. 
On  the  3d  of  January  1870,  they  were  close  to  the 
Greenland  coast,  but  could  only  survey  it  in  sadness, 
»■"-,  the  broken  ice  precluded  the  possibility  of  ever 
reaching  it. 

As  spring  advanced  their  situation  was  more  cheer- 
ing in  one  sense,  but  more  depressing  in  another. 
Their  ice  island  had  now,  by  the  lashing  of  the  surge 


and 

not 

thei 

iun< 

the  j 

hoati 

I^'ried 

of  Ca 

of  tin 

Were  , 

enced 

all  th( 

one  of 

faii't 

She  sue 

*o  as  h 


iiliil 


CRtJISE   OF   THE   GERMANIA. 


789 


and  the  melting  of  the  ice,  got  reduced  until  it  was 
not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  in  breadth.  By  May 
their  sextants  told  them  that  they  Imd  drifted  eleven 
hundred  miles  on  their  cheerless  raft.  Finally,  on 
the  14th  of  June,  they  arrived  in  safety  in  their  three 
boats  at  the  Greenland  Moravian  Mission  station  of 
Friedriksthal,  in  latitude  60®,  just  on  the  other  side 
of  Cape  Farewell.  Here  they  met  their  countrymen 
of  the  Herrnhuttian  Unitas  Fratrnni.,  and  once  more 
were  safe,  after  perils  very  similar  to  those  experi- 
enced by  the  Polaris  ice-floe  party.  Notwithstanding 
all  their  hardships  none  of  the  crew  died,  though 
one  of  them  became  temporarily  insane. 

Fairer  fortune  attended  the  steam-aided  "  Germania." 
She  succeeded  in  sailing  np  the  East  Greenland  coast 
to  as  high  as  75*  30',  but  in  August  was  forced  to 
turn  again  to  the  southward,  and  m  inter  among  the 
Pendulum  Islands,  in  latitude  74*^  39 '.  From  this 
central  point  many  excursions  were  made,  and  though 
at  times  the  thermometer  sank  as  low  as  40*  below 
zero  (of  Fahrenheit),  yet  musk  oxen — strange  enough 
— being  abundant,  they  passed  a  not  unpleasant 
winter — as  winters  in  74*  of  noi'th  latitude  go. 
Christmas  was  absolutely  warm  (pnhj  25*  below  zero), 
and  with  open  doors  they  danced  and  feasted  as  it  had 
been  their  custom  to  do  in  festive,  Christmas-loving 
Germany.  "  By  starlight,"  says  Captain  Koldewey, 
"  we  danced  upon  the  ice ;  of  the  evergreen  Andromeda 
{Cassiope  tetragona)  we  made  a  Christmas  tree ;  the 
cabin  was  decorated  with  flags,  and  the  presents 
which  loving  hands  had  prepared  were  laid  out  upon 
the  tables ;  every  one  received  his  share,  and  uni- 
versal mirth  prevailed."  "  ' 

After  this  holiday  time,  the  explorers  began  to 


\  i 


'I! 
.Hi; 


!i::  ' 


■    IK 


m 


790 


IMPORTANT  DI8C0VEEIE8. 


think  of  business.  The  sledge  equipments  wore  got 
ready,  and  after  one  false  start,  a  party  of  seven  set 
out,  March  24th,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Kolde* 
wey  and  Lieutenant  Payer — one  of  the  scientific  corps 
of  the  expedition.  Dragging  the  provision-laden 
sledge  behind  them,  they  set  their  faces  to  the  north, 
and  after  reaching  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  the  ship,  want  of  provisions  compelled 
them  to  return.  On  the  27th  of  April,  laden  with 
zoological,  geological,  and  botanical  collections,  but 
decidedly  sceptical  regarding  the  "  open  Polar  sea," 
they  regained  the  deck  of  the  "  Germania."  A  grim 
cape — which  has  been  appropriately  named  after 
Prince  Bismarck — marks  the  northern  limit  of  their 
discoveries. 

As  soon  as  navigation  was  again  opened  they  com- 
menced their  explorations,  and  were  fortunate  enough 
to  discover  (in  alwut  latitude  73"  15')  a  branching 
fiord,  stretching  for  a  long  distance.  This  they 
explored  between  longitudes  22°  and  28*^,  without 
reaching  its  termination,  the  leaking  boiler  of  the 
engine  compelling  them  to  return.  This  fiord  was 
named  Franz  Josef,  in  honor  of  Payer's  sovereign. 
Along  its  shores  are  peaks  (Petermann's  and  Payer's), 
respectively  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  thousand 
feet  high.  On  the  11th  of  Septeml)er  1870,  the 
Germania  returned  to  Bremen.  Though  the  expedi- 
tion failed  in  some  of  its  objects  it  did  adminihle 
work  for  geography  and  science,  which  redounds  to 
the  credit  of  the  German  people  who  supported  and 
the  eminent  men  who  planned  and  carried  it  out. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  Arctic  Expedition  was 
undertaken  in  1872,  and  the  idea  was  received  with 
enthusiasm  by  the  whole  Austrian   empire.     The 


got 
set 
Me" 
orps 
iden 
arth, 
fifty 
elled 
with 
,  but 
sea," 
grim 
after 
their 


T  com- 
tiough 
idling 
they 
ithout 
of  the 
'd  was 
ereign. 
lyer's), 
ousand 
rO,  the 
expeili- 
niirahle 
unds  to 
ted  and 
out. 
on   was 
ed  with 
e.     The 


COUNT  WLCZEC  IN  NOVA  ZE't»L\ 


CO 

w 

mi 

18 

Sp 

eas 

ern 

war 

oft 

T 

with 

on  t] 

perse 

Italia 

them 

native 

of  th 

and 

C 

accom 

coast. 

:2th, 

island 
botan 
23d  thi 
ice  be 

jorn  8 

away 
Lat 

a  regio 

by  imi 

thus  ii 

~*they  I 


oi 


PAYER  AND  WEYPRECHT'S  EXPEDITION. 


791 


command  was  entrusted  to  Lieutenants  Payer  and 
Weyprecht,  both  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Ger- 
man expetlition  under  Koldewey ;  they  had  also,  in 
1871,  made  an  experimental  trip  to  the  seas  east  of 
Spitzbergen.  They  now  hoped  to  round  the  north- 
east coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  winter  at  the  most  north- 
ern point  of  Sibeiia,  and  then  continue  the  voyage  east- 
ward to  Bering's  Strait.  Captain  Carlsen,  the  finder 
of  the  Bar^ntz  relics,  joined  the  expedition  as  pilot. 

The  steamer  'Tegethoff'  was  fitted  out  in  the  Elbe, 
with  every  modern  appliance,  and  left  Tronso  harbor 
on  the  IClth  of  July,  1872.  Though  only  twenty-three 
persons  constituted  the  ship's  company,  yet  Germans, 
Italians,  Slavs,  Magyars,  and  Norsemen  were  among 
them — Italian  being  the  official  language  used.  The 
natives  of  southern  Europe  departed  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Weser  with  characteristic  lightheartedness, 
and  their  merry  Italian  airs  wiled  away  the  hours. 

Count  Wilczek  in  the  yacht  "Isbjorn"  (Ice  Bea^) 
accompanied  the  Tegethoff  as  far  as  the  Nova  Zembla 
coast,  near  which  the  two  vessels  anchored  August 
12th.  Several  excursions  were  made  to  adjoining 
islands  by  sledge  parties,  who  secured  geological  and 
botanical  specimens,  and  spoils  of  the  chase.  On  the 
23d  the  north  wind  set  in  with  great  force,  the  new 
ice  began  to  form,  and  the  vessels  parted — the  Isb- 
jorn starting  for  home,  and  the  Tegethoff  steaming 
away  northward. 

Later,  in  the  autumn  of  1872,  the  explorers  reached 
a  region  of  intense  cold ;  their  shii>  was  surrounded 
by  immense  fields  of  floating  ice,  firmly  frozen  in,  and 
thus  imprisoned  by  immovable  fetters,  drifted  slowly 
— they  knew  not  whither — until  at  length,  on  the 


ill! 


It 


,1 


IV 


U 


[i-.:-i 
#■■ 


;  ? 


799 


DISCOVfiBT  OF  FRANCIS  JOSEPH  LAND. 


80th  of  August,  1873,  in  latitude  79^  43',  longitude 
69°  33'  E.,  they  beheld,  to  their  extreme  delight  a  bold 
rocky  and  hitherto  unknown  coast  looming  in  the 
distance.  This  newly  discovered  country  they  named 
"  Francis  Joseph  Land." 

Although  the  mountains  and  glaciers  of  the  new- 
land  could  at  this  time  be  clearly  descerned  flora  the 
edge  of  the  floe  with  which  the  fettered  ship  was  still 
drifting,  it  was  not  till  the  following  March  that  sledge 
paHies  were  able  to  reach  and  explore  it ;  and  by  the 
beginning  of  May,  450  miles  of  new  sea,  land,  and 
island  archipelago  had  been  carefully  noted. 

On  the  20th  of  May,  1 874,  the  explorers  deserted  the 
steamer,  and  started  homeward  drawing  sledges  upon 
which  were  boats;  but  so  .ough  were  the  hummocks 
that  after  two  months  of  great  exertion  they  had  only 
got  a  few  miles  from  the  ship.  Fortunately,  however, 
leads  now  opened  in  the  ice,  and  they  launched  their 
boats  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  open  water  at 
77*^  40'  N.  latitude,  where  they  were  picked  up  by  a 
Russian  fishing-smack  and  conveyed  to  Vardo,  Nor- 
w«y,  where  they  arrived  September  3rd,  1874. 

For  courage,  energy  and  noble  endurance  as  well 
as  for  successful  exploration,  the  members  of  this 
expeditioQ  will  be  long  remembered.  No  trace  of 
scurvy  appeared,  and  only  one  death  occurred  during 
their  absence  of  over  two  years.  Bears'  meat  was 
much  of  the  time  the  only  food  attainable,  and  it  was 
so  bad  ihat  the  hardy  Adriatic  mariners  declared  it 
'only  fit  for  the  devil  on  a  fast  day;'  yet  they  were 
never  insubordinate  and  never  despaired,  but  in  the 
very  depth  of  winter  they  remembered  the  Arabic 
proverb,  '  This  too  will  pass  away.' 


f  i 


•I  t 


if 


«i 


;) 


ffl! 

I. 


Ill 

-'  :| 

.,1- 

m 

IA::\ 

"  :  r  } 


■  r.  i 


RRLICS    OK   THK    DI'TCIl    KXPKDITION. 


at  No 

IV.  : 

remain 

eastpo 

Was  ur 

years. 

Carlsen 

in  the  :p 

Hamme 
tons,  ca 

^*  Barer 
standing 
evident! 
several 
sev-eral  J^ 
reindeer, 
^^escribed 
in  tie  c 

historian 

Tile  hoi 

^^  wint 

foot  duri 

eUpsed. 


o 


BAHBNTZ  a   UOUSK   AT    ICG-HAVEN. 


ir 


ii 


I  '  h 


CHAPTER  LI. 
SWEDISH  AND  NORWEGIAN  EXPEDITIONS. 

The  story  of  the  Dutch  expedition  which  wintered 
at  Nova  Zembla  in  1596  has  been  related  in  Chapter 
IV.  This  voyage  of  Barentz,  though  the  first, 
remained  the  only  one  which  had  rounded  that  north- 
east point  of  Nova  Zembla ;  and  the  house  of  Barentz 
was  unvisited  for  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
years.  But  the  spell  was  broken  in  1871.  Elling 
Carlsen,  a  Norwegian  captain,  who  had  been  engaged 
in  the  North  Sea  trade  for  eighteen  years,  sailed  from 
Hammerfest  on  the  16th  of  May,  in  a  sloop  of  sixty 
tons,  called  the  "  Solid."  He  reached  the  Ice  Haven 
of  Barentz  September  7th,  and  on  the  Otli  saw  a  house 
standing  at  the  head  of  the  bay.  The  materials  had 
evidently  belonged  to  a  ship,  and  among  them  were 
several  oak  beams.  Round  the  house  were  standing 
several  large  puncheons,  and  there  were  also  heaps  of 
reindeer,  seal,  bear,  and  walrus  bones.  The  interior  is 
described  by  Captain  Carlsen  exactly  as  represented 
in  the  curious  old  drawing  by  Gerrit  de  Veer,  the 
historian  of  the  Dutch  Expedition. 

The  house  in  which  Barentz  and  his  gallant  crew 
had  wintered,  can  never  have  been  entered  by  human 
foot  during  nearly  three  centuries  that  have  since 
elapsed.    The  row  of  standing  bed-places  along  one 

793 


i    I 


I    , 


794 


ICB   HAVEN    RE-VI8ITED. 


side  of  the  room,  the  halberd,  and  the  muskets,  were 
still  in  their  old  places.  There  stood  the  cooking- 
pans  over  the  fire-place,  the  old  clock  against  the  wall, 
the  arms  and  tools,  the  drinking  vessels,  the  instru- 
ments, and  the  books  that  had  beguiled  the  weary 
hours  of  that  loiig  night,  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  years  ago.  The  "  History  of  China  "  points  to 
the  goal  which  Barentz  sought,  while  the  "  Manual 
of  Navigation  "  indicates  the  knowledge  which  guided 
his  effoi-ts.  Stranger  evidence  nover  told  a  more 
deeply  interesting  story. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1871,  Captain  Carlsen 
completed  his  adventurous  voyage  by  anchoring  once 
more  at  Hammerfest.  The  Dutch  Government  have 
secured  the  numerous  relics  which  he  brought  away, 
for  preservation  in  the  native  land  of  the  great  navi- 
gator, whose  countrymen  feel  an  affectionate  pride  in 
the  {rlonorifc  deeds  of  their  "  Sea  fathers,"  and  will 
cherish  tliese  memorials  of  a  very  noble  achievement 
with  '.urtful  reverence.  Many  of  them,  like  the  old 
clock-dial,  are  very  valuable  in  an  antiquarian  point 
of  view ;  but  not  the  least  interesting  are  the  flute, 
which  will  still  give  out  a  few  notes,  and  the  small 
shoes  of  the  poor  little  ship's  boy  who  died  during 
the  vdnter. 

For  several  years  past,  Sweden  and  Norway  have, 
with  a  skill  and  resolution  which  do  the  highest 
honor  to  the  gallant  Scandinavian  nation,  prosecuted 
scientific  investigations  within  the  Arctic  Circle. 
The  most  important  of  their  expeditions,  equipped 
under  the  superintendence  of  Professor  Nordenskiold, 
sailed  from  Tromso,  July  21st,  1872.  It  was  com- 
posed of  the  steamer  "  Polhelm,"  the  brig  "  Gladan," 
and  the  steamer  "Onkel  Adam."    The  "Polhelm" 


was 
Roya 
same 
her  a! 
den  b 
The 
for  w 
larder, 
sheds  / 
For  the 
trated 
sail-doi 
iight  ic 
equipm 
sledges, 
them  fro 
ers,  to  d 
The  t 
gen,  in 
18^2;  tli 
V  the  ir 
*he  wintJ 
one  to  six! 
*o  escape 
Jn  spite 
tions  for 
hie  house 
On  the) 
*hat,  at  a[ 

fifty-eightl 
visions  Tvl 
*hey  weref 
^ordenskf 


NORDENSKIOLD  8   SWEDISH   EXPEDITION. 


795 


I    I 


was  commaiided  by  Lieut.  Pftlanrler,  of  the  Swedisli 
Royal  Navy,  and  manned  by  officers  and  men  of  the 
same  service.  The  other  two  vessels  acconijjanied 
her  as  transports  and  were  to  have  returned  to  Swe- 
den before  the  winter  set  in. 

The  ex^odition  was  supplied  with  a  dwelling-house, 
for  winterqunrters,  of  six  rooms,  including  kitchen, 
larder,  bathing-room,  and  potato  cellar,  and  three  large 
sheds  attached  to  the  house,  adapted  for  observatories. 
For  the  sledge  parties  were  provided  pemmican,  concen- 
trated rum,  cooking  apparatus,  warm  sleeping  bags, 
sail-cloth  tents,  and  photogene  oil  for  fuel.  Three 
light  iceboats,  and  two  larger  boats,  formed  the  boat 
equipment,  and  all  were  provided  with  ash- wood 
sledges.  Fifty  reindeer  were  also  shipped,  most  of 
them  from  Kola,  in  Lapland,  with  exj)erienced  Laj)land- 
ers,  to  drive  and  attend  them. 

The  three  vessels  reached  Mussel  Bay,  Spitzber- 
gen,  in  lat.  79"  50'  north,  on  the  3d  of  September 
1872;  three  days  later  they  were  inextricably  shut  in 
by  the  ice,  and  the  number  of  men  to  be  fed  through 
the  winter  was  thus  suddenly  increasL'd  from  twenty- 
one  to  sixty-seven.  Some  of  the  reiiuleer,  too,  managed 
to  escape  through  the  carelessness  of  the  Laplanders. 
In  spite  of  these  discouragements,  however,  prepara- 
tions for  wintering  progressed  briskly,  and  the  porta- 
ble house  was  being  rapidly  erected  and  furnished. 

On  the  Ist  of  October,  the  startling  news  arrived 
that,  at  a  neighboring  promontory  called  Grey  Point, 
six  Norwegian  fishing  vessels,  Avith  an  aggregate  of 
fifty-eight  men,  were  frozen  in,  and  that,  as  their  pro- 
visions would  not  last  beyond  the  end  of  the  year, 
they  were  sorely  in  need  of  help  from  the  Swedes. 
Nordenskiold  and  his  colleagues  sent  back  word  to 


'I'-iiii 


j!p.'l 


;     -1    I       i 


796 


THE  ICE-BOUND   NOEWEQIANS. 


tbem,  that  they  themselves  had  been  obliged  to  pro- 
vide for  a  much  larger  consumption  of  victuals  than 
they  had  bargained  for,  but  that  they  were  willing, 
after  the  1st  of  December,  to  share  their  food  with 
them  if  the  Norwegians  would  undertake  to  conform 
strictly  to  the  arrangements  made  by  the  leaders  of 
the  expedition.  They  were  further  infonned  that  at 
Ice  Fiord,  on  the  west  coa^t,  a  house  had  ])een  erected 
at  a  time  when  it  was  in  contemplation  to  establish 
a  colony  for  the  purpose  of  working  the  phosphate 
beds  there.  This  house  was  warm  and  comfortable, 
and  well-supplied  with  stoves,  and  with  a  stock  of  pro- 
visions. Eighteen  of  the  Norwegians  accordingly  de- 
termined to  repair  thither,  while  the  remaining  forty 
stayed  by  their  ships. 

On  the  22d  of  Octob'^r,  Palander  and  five  men 
started  with  sledges  to  visit  the  imprisoue<l  fishermen, 
and  reached  Grey  Point  on  the  24th.  The  eighteen 
men  had  started  for  Ice  Fiord  about  two  weeks 
before.  Aft'^r  having  done  what  he  could  in  the  way 
of  advice  to  those  left  behind,  Palander  set  out  to 
return  on  the  20th;  but  though  the  distance  between 
the  two  places  is  only  ten  miles  as  the  crow  flies,  it 
took  no  less  than  five  days  to  get  back  to  the  ships. 

On  the  4th  of  November  a  storm  arose,  which  dis- 
persed the  ice  and  released  two  of  the  imprisoned  fish- 
ing vessels,  and  thirty-eight  of  the  Norwegians  man- 
aged to  reach  home  after  a  long  and  perilous  voyage,  and 
after  vainly  attempting  to  rescue  their  countrymen 
in  Ic6  Fiord.  Two  men,  an  old  ice-master  named 
Mattilas  and  his  cook,  remained  at  Grey  Point  by  the 
ice-bound  vessels,  being  unwilling  to  abandon  then 
They  appear  to  liave  endeavored  subsequently  to 
reach  Mussel  Bay,  as  their  corpses  were  found  in  ai 
open  boat. 


ro- 

ng, 
nth 


THE   WmTBR   AT   MUSSEL   BAT. 


797 


re  tnen 

lermeu, 

jigliteen 

.   weeks 

tbe  way 

b  out  to 

between 

|v  flies,  it  I 

b  sliips- 
-hich  c\i9- 
oued  fisli- 
aui9  man- 
lyage,  and 
|uutvywen| 
wi'  named! 
iutbytbe 
,\ou  tbeu4 
tuently  to| 
uud  iu  »i 


The  fate  of  the  eighteen  men  left  in  Ice  Fiord  was 
ascertained  by  Captain  Mack,  who  discovered  the 
dead  bodies  of  these  unfortunate  fishermen,  together 
with  a  diary  kept  regularly  from  the  '7th  of  October, 
1872,  to  the  3d  of  March,  1873,  and  with  less  regu- 
larity until  the  19th  of  April. 

Toward  the  close  of  April,  Nordenskiold  and  Pal- 
ander  with  fourteen  men  started  north,  the  intention 
be'ng  to  get  as  noar  the  Pole  as  possible.  They  made 
their  way  to  Parry  Islands,  crossing  from  the  North 
Oape  on  the  ice.  Here  they  found  the  ice  so  strong 
to  the  northward  that  the  idea  of  a  long  journey  in 
that  direction  was  out  of  the  question.  They  re- 
turned to  Mussel  Bay  on  the  29th  of  June,  after  an 
absence  of  sixty  dayc,  during  which  they  encountered 
very  severe  weather.  Subsequently  they  again  en- 
deavored ti  travel  northward  by  sledges  from  Phipps 
Island,  but  were  prevented  by  lack  of  provisions. 

Early  in  June  tlio  monotony  of  Mussel  Bay  was 
enlivened  V»y  the  arrival  of  the  Steamship  Diana,  just 
from  England,  having  on  board  Leigh  Smith's  ex- 
ploring party.  On  the  30th  of  June,  the  ice  broke 
ap  and  the  Gladan  immediately  started  for  home, 
whither  the  Polhelni  soon  followed  her,  arriving  at 
Troraso  on  the  (5th  of  August,  1873.  Although  the 
expedition  was  forced  to  return  without  having 
accomplished  one  of  its  main  objects — the  reaching  of 
a  very  high  hititude  ];y  raeana  of  sledges, — still,  the 
harvest  of  results  obtained  by  dredging,  by  magnetic, 
meteorological,  botanical,  and  geological  observations 
is  extremely  rich.  These  throw  great  light  on  the 
amount  and  nature  of  organic  life  within  the  Polar 
Circle,  as  well  as  on  the  great  ])hy8ical  changes  which 
those  regions  have  undergone  in  j)ast  times. 
46 


•s  i 


798 


NORDENSKIOLD'S  VOYAGE  TO  THE  TEISISEI. 


In  1875,  Nordenskiold  projected  an  expedition  to 
the  Kara  Sea  and  Siberian  rivers,  and  carried  out  his 
programme  successfully.  With  four  8<i  ;"'^i«i<',  com- 
panions he  started  fiom  Tromso,  at  i  -sr,  in 
the  Proeven,  a  small  Norwegian  sloo^  r»:.aDed  by 
twelve  walrus-hunters,  and  made  his  way  without 
difficulty  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei — "  thuH  inaug- 
urating," he  hoped, "  a  new  and  important  route  for 
the  commerce  of  the  world." 

At  Dickson  Harbor,  as  the  anchoring  place  was 
named,  Nordenskiold  and  two  of  his  companions,  with 
three  sailors,  left  the  vessel  and  started,  Aug.  19tb, 
to  ascend  the  river  in  a  Norland  boat,  the  Aitva, 
which  had  been  brought  for  the  purpose.  The  boat 
was  sunk  almost  to  the  gunwale  by  its  load,  and  w  ; 
not  in  a  condition  to  stand  a  heavy  swell. 

"  With  favorable  wind  and  smooth  water,"  says  Norden  d-.  ' 
"  we  sailed  on  without  any  long  rests  in  42  hours  to  Cape  Scha' 
anskoi,  where  we  arrived  on  the  night  before  the  '^loi.,  wt!t 
through,  and  worn  out  by  want  of  sleep.  On  the  7,  ay  we  lande.l 
at  Krestovskoj,  a  now  deserted  simovi,  which,  to  judge  by  the 
number  of  the  houses  and  the  style  in  which  they  were  fitted  up 
must  at  one  time  have  had  its  prosperous  period.  Three  houses 
with  flat  turf-covered  roofs  still  remained,  each  by  itself  forming 
a  veritable  labyrinth  "f  rooms— living-rooms,  bake-rooms,  bath- 
rooms, store-room  for  blubber,  &c.,all  in  one.  All  U  tehold 
articles  were  taken  away,  and  literally  there  was  not  t-  i  '■  f  mnd 
a  nail  in  the  wall — a  sign  that  the  inhabitants  had  not  !:t.  <uit^ 
but  removed." 

On  the  last  day  of  August  t\p  travelers  overtook  a 
steamer  which  they  hai  been  f)(''pily  pursuing  for  the 
two  ])rcviou8  days,  and  were  rt;.eived  on  board  by  its 
master,  Ivan  Michailovitsch  Jurmenieif. 

"  The  Eteamer  Alpxanderv,  a,a  neither  a  passenger  nor  a  cargo 
boat,  but  formed  a  movable  warehouse  propelled  by  steam,  the 


i 


I 


A  VOYAGE  UP  THE  RIVER, 


799 


master  of  which  was  not  a  seaman,  but  a  friendly  merchant,  who 
clearly  did  not  take  much  concern  with  navigation,  but  more 
occupied  himself  with  goods  and  trade,  and  was  also  seldom 
styled  by  the  crew  captain  (^Kapitan),  but  generally  master 
(Aosain).  The  equipment  of  the  vessel  itself,  corresponded  to 
this  state  of  things.  The  whole  fore-cabin  was  fitted  up  as  a 
store,  with  shelves  for  the  goods  along  the  walls,  a  common 
desk,  «&c.,  &c.  The  after- saloon  was  employed  as  a  counting- 
bouse,  writing  and  bedroom  for  the  master,  and  was  besides  also 
over-filled  with  various  kinds  of  goods,  spirit  casks  «Scc.  There 
was  thus  no  place  for  passengers,  and  at  the  first  instant,  after 
we  laj'  alongside  the  steamer,  with  the  Swedish  flag  hoisted,  the 
'  master's '  reception  of  us  was  by  no  means  specially  friendly. 
At  the  beginning  he  was  even  not  disposed  to  take  us  along. 
But  I  had  scarcely  succeeded  in  explaining  to  him,  by  the  aid  of 
our  pilot,  Feodor,  and  a  Swedish-Russian  dictionary,  what  sort 
of  people  we  were,  and  what  journey  we  had  made,  before  all  was 
completely  altered,  and  from  that  moment  we  had  in  our 
'  master '  the  most  agreeable  and  accomodating  host  we  could 
desire. 

"  The  nautical  command  on  board  was  in  the  hands  of  two 
mates  of  stately  and  original  appearance,  clad  in  long  caftans  ; 
who  each  during  his  watch  sat  on  a  chair  at  the  wheel,  generally 
smoking  a  cigar,  and,  with  the  most  careless  appearance  in  the 
world,  exchanging  jokes  with  people  descending  the  stream.  A 
man  stood  continually  in  the  fore  trying  the  depth  with  a  long 
pole  ;  for  in  order  to  avoid  the  strong  current  of  the  deep  main 
stream,  the  course  was  never  taken  on  the  deepest  part  of  the 
river,  but  as  near  the  banks  as  possible — often  so  near  that  it  was 
almost  possible  to  jump  ashore. 

"  We  were  yet  far  to  the  north  of  the  Arctic  circle,  and  as 
many  perhaps  imagine  that  the  little  known  region  we  were  now 
traveling  tliiough,  the  Siberian  tundra,  is  a  desert  wilderness 
covered  either  by  ice  and  snow,  or  by  an  exceedingly  scant  moss 
vegetation,  it  perhaps  may  not  be  unsuitable  to  state  that  this  is 
by  no  means  the  case.  Already  had  the  fertility  of  th&soil  and  the 
iiD measurable  extent  and  richness  in  grass  of  the  pastures  drawn 
forth  from  one  of  our  walrus-hmitcrs,  a  middle-aged  man  who  is 
owner  of  a  little  patch  of  ground  among  the  fells  in  northern 


.  I 


«00 


LIFB  IN  ARCTIC  RUSSIA. 


Norway,  a  cr}'  of  envy  at  the  splendid  land  our  Lord  had  given 
the  '  Russian,'  and  of  astonishment  that  no  creature  pastured,  iic 
scythe  mowed,  the  grass. 

''  As  in  the  simoviea  situated  further  to  the  north,  the  houses 
in  all  the  villages  on  the  Yenisei  are  built  of  logs,  pretty  close 
together,  with  the  richly-carved  gable  to  the  street  or  lane. 
Except  for  the  cockroaches  that  crawled  around  everywhere,  the 
interiors  of  *he  houses  were  very  clean,  and  the  walls  were 
adorned  with  numerous,  if  not  very  artistic,  photographs  and 
engravings,  for  the  most  part  of  the  Impt  •  i^l  family,  remarkable 
Russian  notabilities,  often  in  generals*  uniform,  scenes  from 
Russian  history,  &c.  Richly  decorated  sacred  pictures  were 
always  found  placed  in  a  corner,  and  before  these  there  hung 
some  small  oil-lamps  or'  little  wax-lights,  which  were  lighted  on 
festivals.  Sometimes  the  floor,  at  least  in  the  principal  room 
was  covered  with  furs.  The  bedstead  was  generally  formed  of  a 
couch  near  the  roof,  so  large  that  it  occupied  a  third  part  or  a 
half  of  the  room,  and  so  high  from  the  floor  that  a  man  could  go 
upright  under  it.  Food  was  cooked  in  large  ovens  which  were 
fired  for  that  purpose  daily,  and  at  the  same  time  warmed  the 
houses.  Fresh  bread  was  to  be  had  every  day,  and  even  for  the 
household  of  the  poor  a  large  brass  tea-urn  was  a  necessary 
household  article.  One  was  certain  to  meet  with  a  hearty  and 
friendly  reception  wherever  he  stepped  over  the  threshold,  and 
if  he  stayed  a  short  time  he  generall}'  had  to  drink  a  glass  of 
tea  with  his  host,  whatever  time  of  day  it  might  happen  to  be." 

After  journeying  on  the  Alexander  al>out  1000 
English  miles,  our  travelers  (iisembarked  at  the  town 
of  Yenisseisk,  on  the  last  day  of  September,  and  re- 
turned home  overland  by  Moscow,  Petersburg,  Hel- 
singfors,  and  Abo. 

P\>r  this  voyage  from  Norw^ay  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Yenisei,  whereby  a  sea  route  to  Siberia  was  inaugu- 
rated, Nordenskiold  received  in  January,  1876,  tho 
thanks  of  the  Russian  government.  In  the  same  year 
he  made  another  successful  voyage  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Yenisei,  and  back. 


TH 


CHAPTER    LII. 
THE  ENGLISH  EXPEDITION  OF  1875—76. 

The  success  of  the  Polaris  Expedition  in  wintering 
in  a  higher  latitude  than  ship  had  ever  reached  be- 
fore, created  much  interest  among  European  geogra- 
phers, and  in  England,  which  had  sent  out  no  Arctic 
expedition  since  the  search  for  Franklin  was  ended, 
a  national  expedition  on  a  grand  scale  was  proposed. 
Lady  Franklin  favored  simli  an  enterprise,  and  hoped 
"for  the  credit  and  honor  of  England  that  the  discov- 
ery  of  the  North  Pole  would  not  be  left  to  any  other 
nation." 

"The  navy,"  wrote  an  English  admiral,  "  needs  some 
action  to  wake  it  up  from  the  sloth  of  routine  and  save 
it  from  the  canker  of  prolonged  peace.  It  cries  not 
for  mere  war  to  gratify  its  desire  for  honorabla  em- 
ployment or  fame.  There  are  other  aciiicvenients  as 
glorious  as  a  victorious  battle  ;  and  a  wise  ruler  and 
a  wise  people  will  be  careful  to  satisfy  a  craving 
which  is  the  life-blood  of  a  profession.  The  rude 
wooden  monument  to  the  intrepid  American,  standing 
.alone  in  the  Polar  solitude,  is  at  the  same  time  a  grand 
memorial,  a  trophy,  and  a  challenge." 

Finally,  in  1874,  after  the  return  of  Payer  and  Wey- 
precht,  the  English  government  decided  to  send  out 
an  expedition  the  ensuing  year,  to  attempt  to  reach 


i  ' 


1:1 


1 

h\ 

w 

802 


THE  ALERT  AND  DISCOVERY. 


the  North  Pole  by  the  route  up  Kennedy  Channel 
whose  waters  had  thus  far  been  navigated  only  by 
American  vessels.  Two  steamships,  named  "  Alert " 
and  "  Discovery,"  were  selected  and  fitted  up  for  the 
perils  to  be  encountered.  Provisions  for  three  years, 
and  everything  that  could  be  suggested  in  the  way 
of  clothing,  medicines  and  traveling-gear  were  laid  in ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  no  previous  explorers  had  been 
equipped  in   so  methodical  and  liberal  a  manner. 

Captain  George  Nares,  a  distinguished  oflficer  then 
commanding  the  Challenger  which  was  circumnavi- 
gating the  world  for  scientific  purposes,  was  ordered 
home  from  Hong-Kong  to  lead  the  expedition.  Cap- 
tain H.  F.  Stephenson,  the  second  in  command,  was 
assigned  to  the  Discovery.  The  two  ships  were  man- 
ned and  officered  with  complements,  all  told,  of  121 
souls.  The  popularity  of  the  undertaking  was  so  great 
that  of  lieutenants  alone,  more  than  enough  volunteer- 
ed to  have  manned  both  vessels. 

The  Alert  and  Discovery  started  from  Portsmouth^ 
May  29th,  1875,  and  were  accompanied  as  far  as 
Disco  Island  by  a  third  vessel  carrying  coal  and  stores. 
Christian  Peterson  and  Hans — Dr.  Kane's  fellow 
tiaveiers — joined  the  expedition  at  Disco  as  interpre- 
ter and  hunter,  and  sixty  dogs  were  bought.  At 
Upernavick,  July  22nd,  the  explorers  bade  farewell 
to  civilization  and  steamed  north  across  Melville  Bay 
into  Smith  Strait.  Captain  Buddington's  winter 
camp  was  visited,  and  some  boxes  of  books,  instru- 
ments, etc.  were  found. 

On  the  19th  of  August  the  two  ships  were  passing 
up  Kennedy  Channel,  and  soon  afterward  they  were 
forced  by  the  pack-ice  into  Lady  Franklin  Sound — 


IN  HIGH  LATITUDE. 


808 


*    '.  I 


an  inlet  on  the  west  coast,  opposite  Thank  God  Har- 
bor. At  the  entrance  to  this  inlet,  in  latitude  81** 
44'  north,  longitude  64**  45'  west,  the  Discovery  was 
anchored  in  a  sheltered  position,  where  she  remained 
frozen  in  for  nearly  eleven  dreary  months. 

Leaving  Captain  Stephenson  in  his  snug  winter 
quarters.  Captain  Nares,  in  the  Alert,  steamed  out  of 
F/iscovery  Harbor,  August  26th,  and  proceeded  slow- 
ly up  Robeson  Channel,  meeting  with  much  heavy 
ice.  At  noon,  September  Isi,  the  ship  was  in  latitude 
82*  24 ' ;  it  was  a  higher  latitude  than  had  before  been 
attained  by  any  vessel,  and  the  ensign  was  hoisted  at 
the  peak  in  honor  of  the  event.  The  Alert  had  now 
left  Robeson  Channel  and  fairly  entered  the  circum- 
polar  sea.  Further  progress  northward  was  however 
impossible ;  barely  escaping  the  southern  drift,  the 
ship  was  brought  inside  a  floe-berg  near  the  north- 
eastern coast  of  Grinnell  Land,  and  was  soon  frozen  in. 
Floeberg  Beach,  as  the  winter  harbor  of  the  Alert 
was  called,  was  in  latitude  82'^  24'  north,  longitude 
61°  west.  The  two  ships  were  about  sixty  miles 
apart. 

Preparations  for  the  winter  were  now  begun. 
Stores  were  safely  housed  on  shore  for  use  in  case  of 
fire  or  other  disaster  on  shipboard.  The  sides  of  the 
ships  were  banked  with  snow  and  the  decks  were 
covered  with  it.  Sledging  parties  were  sent  out  to 
explore  the  surrounding  regions,  make  deposits  of 
provisions  for  the  use  of  the  spring  expeditions,  and 
to  secure  game.  One  of  these  parties  was  absent 
nineteen  days. 

On  the  16th  of  October  the  sun  disappeared,  and 
the  long  Arctic  night   brooded  over  the  explorers. 


*  ■,■■ 

^  1 

t  ' 


i 


I'  I 


804 


tHE  ARCTIC  NIGHT. 


Sledging  parties  had  now  to  be  abandoned,  but  the 
usual  ship  discipline  was  kept  up.  The  officers  en- 
gaged in  scientific  investigations,  and  the  men  spent 
a  portion  of  each  day  in  the  open  air.  The  crew  of 
the  Discovery  constructed  a  skating  ground,  a  walk  a 
mile  in  length ;  and  a  theatre  sixty  feet  long,  with 
walls  of  ice  and  snow  and  a  roof  of  sail  cloth,  where 
comedies  were  performed  regularly.  Actors  were 
plenty,  but  there  was  a  dearth  of  actresses.  The  crew 
of  the  Alert  built  a  mound  of  snow  seventy  feet  high, 
and  it  was  a  favorite  exercise  to  run  down  the  slope. 
Schools  conducted  by  the  officers  were  held  evenings. 
Guy  Fawkes  was  burned  on  both  vessels,  Nov.  5th, 
amid  great  applause ;  and  Christmas  was  appropri- 
ately celebrated.  Thus  the  winter  passed  pleasantly 
away,  and  perhaps  there  were  not  in  the  English  navy 
healthier  or  hap})ier  crews  than  those  of  the  Alert 
and  Discovery.  Hans,  liowever,  was  evidently  home- 
sick. In  January  he  became  despondent,  his  actions 
were  strange,  and  one  day  he  was  missing.  A  search 
was  instituted,  and  he  was  tracked  by  the  aid  of 
lanterns  to  a  neighboring  island,  and  found  enscon- 
sed  in  a  hole  in  the  snow.  He  was  persuaded  to 
return  to  the  ship,  and  recovered  his  spiiits  as  spring 
came  on. 

The  first  of  March  brought  back  the  sun — the  sig- 
nal for  renewed  activity.  There  had  been  no  com- 
munication between  the  vessels  since  they  parted, 
and  Stephenson  was  ignorant  of  the  whereabouts  of 
the  Alert.  Lieuts.  Egerton  and  llawson,  and  Peter- 
son, started  south  with  a  dog  siege,  March  12th,  in- 
tending to  visit  the  Discov  uy.  On  the  second  day 
Peterson  jjecame  ill,  and  alter  camping  he  got  worse. 


'■!I| 


POLAKiS  BAY  REVISITED. 


805 


Having  a  craving  for  cold  water  he  left  hia  tent  dur- 
ing the  night  to  procure  snow  to  swallow,  and  in 
doing  80  both  of  his  feet  were  badly  frozen.  The 
next  day  was  stormy,  and  the  oj9Scers  were  obliged  to 
remain  in  camp;  on  the  15th  they  turned  back,  and 
reached  the  Alert  at  night.  It  was  found  necessary 
to  amputate  a  portion  of  Petersen's  feet,  and  he  died 
some  two  months  later.  Another  attempt  made  by 
the  same  officers  to  reach  the  Discovery  was  more 
successful ;  and  on  nearing  the  shi]),  March  25th,  the 
whole  crew  came  running  toward  them  like  rabbits 
from  a  burrow. 

Before  Captain  Nares  started  north,  the  U.  S. 
Government  placed  at  his  disposal  all  the  stores  left 
in  Greenland  by  Captain  Hall's  Expedition.  Toward 
the  end  of  March,  Lieut.  Archer  and  Dr.  Coppinger 
of  the  Discovery,  with  a  sledge  party,  were  sent 
across  the  channel  to  visit  the  winter  quarters  of  the 
American  explorers  at  Polaris  Bay,  and  secure  any 
articles  of  value.  They  found  the  provision  depot 
and  its  contents  in  good  order,  and  made  a  hearty 
supper  from  the  bread  and  preserved  meats.  Many 
miscellaneous  articles  were  scattered  about,  including 
a  coil  of  wire,  an  ice-saw,  a  box  of  glass,  and  a  small 
tent.  The  roof  of  the  observatoi-y  was  partly  blown 
down.  In  all  probability  no  human  being  had  set 
foot  upon  the  shores  of  this  dreary  bay  since  the  crew 
of  the  Polaris  departed,  leaving  the  remains  of  their 
commander  to  keep  watch,  as  it  were,  over  the  relics 
of  his  expedition. 

Another  object  which  they  saw  excited  more  pain- 
ful but  far  deeper  interest — the  grave  of  Captain 
Hall.     A  piece  of  a  cabin  door  caught  the  eye,  and 


Si 


m 


806 


THE  ORAVE  OP  CAPTAIN  HALL. 


on  approaching  they  found  upon  it  the  following 
inscription : — 

IN  MEMORY 
of 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  HALL, 

LATE   COMMANDBB 

U.  S.  STEAMER  PCI  ARIS, 

NORTH  POLE  EXPEDITION, 

DIED  NOV.  8TH,  1871.    AGED  60  YEArfS. 

**I  am  the  reiurrection  and  the  life :  he  that  beliereth  in  um,  though  h* 

were  dead,  jret  tball  he  lire." 

On  the  other  side  wa.s  engraved  : — 

TO  THE  MEMORT 

OF 

C.  F.  HALL, 

LATB   COMMANDER  Of 

U.  S.  NORTH  POLAR  EXPEDITION. 

DIED  NOV.  8TH,  1871. 

AGED  60  YEARS. 

The  letters  were  sunk  in  the  wood,  and  everything 
appeared  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  A  large 
crowbar  was  stuck  in  the  grave  about  a  foot  from 
the  headstone,  and  a  small  flat  piece  of  upright  stone 
was  at  the  foot.  A  willow  planted  near  the  grave 
by  his  comrades  was  alive  and  flourishing. 

On  the  13th  of  May  following,  Captain  Stephenson 
and  a  large  party  again  crossed  to  th  place  where 
Captain  Hall  was  buried,  and  hoisted  the  Amencan 
flag  over  the  grave.  At  its  foot  they  erected  a  brass 
tablet,  brought  from  England  for  the  purpose,  with 
the  following  inscription : — 

SACnKD  TO  THE  MEMORY  OP 

CAPTAIN  C.  F.  HALL 

Of  the  U.  S.  ship  <  Polaris,'  . 

Who  taerifieed  hii  life  in  the  advancement  of  Science  on  Nov.  8,  1871. 

Thi*  tablet  has  been  erected  hy  the  British  Polar  Expedition  of  1876,  which, 
following  in  his  footsteps,  has  profited  by  his  experience. 


<•■■!  1 11' 


AN  EXCITING  DAY. 


807 


As  the  main  object  of  the  entire  expedition  was  to 
reach  the  North  Pole  or  approach  to  it  as  nearly  as 
possible,  a  sledging  party  under  Couiiuau  ler  Mark- 
ham  was  organized,  to  strike  out  boldly  upon  the 
PalsBocrystic  Sfia  (or  sea  of  ancient  ice),  as  Captain 
Nares  dubbed  the  regions  north  of  Grinnell  Land 
and  Greenland,  and  to  attain  as  high  a  latitude  as 
possible.  Another  sledge  party  under  Lieut.  Aid- 
rich  was  to  travel  westward  along  the  north  shore  of 
Grant's  Land — as  the  northern  portion  of  Grinnell 
Land  was  called. 

The  third  of  April  was  an  exciting  day  at  the  Alert's 
winter  quarters.  Early  in  the  morning  fifty-one  of- 
ficers and  men,  forming  the  northern  and  western 
sledging  parties  with  their  supports,  arranged  them- 
selves and  their  sledges  in  line  of  battle,  all  in  high 
spirits  and  good  health,  weary  of  the  winter's  inactivi- 
ty and  anxious  for  the  novel  work  before  them.  On 
starting  they  were  accompanied  a  short  distance  by 
Captain  Nares  and  the  few  shipinates  they  v- kkv  to 
leave  behind ;  then  cheers  were  exchanged,  auu  the 
explorers  disapeared  in  the  north.  The  two  sledg- 
ing parties  traveled  together  over  the  rugged  floes  in 
a  north-westerly  direction  for  several  days,  making 
slow  progress,  and  on  the  10th  of  April  reached  View 
Hill  on  the  north-easteni  corner  of  Grinnell  Land 
where  a  depot  of  provisions  had  previously  been  es- 
tablished. Here  the  supporting  party  turned  back 
and  the  exploring  parties  separated — Aldricli  to  travel 
westward,  and  Markham  to  strike  due  north  over  the 
frozen  sea. 

Markham's  party,  consisting  of  himself,  Lieut.  Pan', 
and  fifteen  men,  drew  three  sledges  loaded  with  two 


m 


808 


THE  NORTH  POLE  PARTY. 


boats  and  provisions  for  sixty-three  days,  and  weigh- 
ing together  over  0000  Ihn.,  which  was  a  pull  of  400 
lbs.  for  each  of  the  crew.  Their  course  ou  the  first 
day  was  through  hummocks  so  high  that  a  part  of 
the  men  were  continually  in  advance  *with  pickaxes 
and  shovels  making  roads,  over  which  the  sledges  were 
dragged  by  repeated  journeys.  "Standinr  mils,"  as 
they  were  called,  were  often  necessary  gh  the 

whole  journey,  when  all  the  men  graspeu  v.ie  ropes 
firmly,  and  at  the  words  of  command,  "  one,  two,  three, 
haul,"  pulled  together,  thus  advancing  the  sledge  a 
few  feet  at  a  time. 

At  times  there  were  hard  gales  and  drifting  snow, 
when  traveling  was  impossible  and  the  men  had  to 
stay  in  their  tents.  At  other  times,  when  the  sun 
shone  brightly,  the  surface  snow  on  the  floes  sparkled 
and  glistened  with  the  most  beautiful  irridescent  colors. 
Symptoms  of  scurvy  appeared  soon  after  starting,  and 
on  the  17th  of  April  two  of  the  men  were  so  ill  that 
they  had  to  be  drawn  on  a  sledge. 

On  the  18th  of  April  a  change  was  experienced  in 
the  nature  of  the  ice.  Hitherto  the  floes  though  small 
were  comparatively  flat  and  surrounded  by  hummocks ; 
now  they  appeared  squeezed  one  against  the  other 
but  with  no  hummocks  between.  They  were  of  gi- 
gantic thickness,  of  uneven  surfaces,  and  covered  with 
deep  snow.  In  a  journey  of  ten  hours,  though  ten 
miles  were  marched,  only  one  mile  of  piogress  was 
made.  On  the  next  day  some  of  the  floes  were  nine 
or  ten  feet  above  the  level  of  the  iioxt,  and  the  sledges 
had  •  to  be  raised  or  lowered  from  one  to  the  other. 
In  four  hours,  with  a  succession  of  standing  pulls,  only 
300  yards  of  an  advance  was  made ;  and  to  lighten 
the  load  the  largest  ice  boat  was  abandoned. 


ON  THE  PALJEOCBYSTIC  SEA. 


809 


Subsequently  there  was  a  little  improvement  in  the 
traveling,  but  it  soon  grew  worse  than  ever  before. 
Enormous  hummocks  were  squeezed  together  on  every 
side,  and  from  the  summit  of  one  rising  more  than 
forty  feet  above  the  snow  at  its  1>aae,  no  floe  could  be 
seen — nothing  but  uneven  rangt  of  shapeless  masses 
of  ice,  between  which  the  snow  had  accuinulnted  in 
drifted  and  surface-frozen  ridges  to  a  great  depth. 
Pickaxes  and  shovels  were  in  constant  requisition; 
while  the  road-makers  were  at  work  the  others  fre- 
quently shivered  in  their  tents.  The  keen  winds  were 
sometimes  utilized  by  means  of  sails  which  were  hoist- 
ed on  the  sledges.  The  tracks  of  a  hare  traveling  south 
seventeen  miles  from  the  nearest  land,  were  the  last 
vestige  of  animal  life  seen  on  the  northward  journey. 

By  the  2nd  of  May  five  of  the  crew  were  on  the 
sick  list,  and  by  the  7th  the  whole  five  had  to  be  placed 
on  the  sledges ;  others  suffered  from  snow-blindness. 
On  the  10th,  four  more  men  were  taken  ill ;  the  con- 
dition  of  the  ice  showed  no  impi'ovement,  half  of  the 
provisions  were  exhausted,  and  Markham  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  could  go  no  further ;  but  he  deter- 
mined to  remain  where  he  was  a  couple  of  days  to 
make  observations. 

The  next  day  the  men  cut  a  hole  through  some  young 
ice,  and  it  was  found  to  be  sixty-four  inches  thick, 
though  the  growth  of  only  one  season.  The  depth  of 
water  beneath  was  72  fathoms,  or  432  feet,  and  the 
bottom  was  clay.  Though  the  scenery  above  was 
appallingly  desolate,  with  net  a  trace  of  animal  or  vege- 
table existence,  the  very  reverse  was  the  case  below. 
A  dredge  was  improvised,  baited,  and  lowered  in  the 
water.     On  being  raised  it  was  found  to  be  literally 


810 


THE  TURNING  POINT. 


II 


swarming  with  crustaceans  api)arently  of  two  kinds. 
Experiments  showed  that  tidal  movements  existed. 
The  following  is  from  Markham's  journal  of  May  13th 
— the  last  day  passed  at  this  station,  the  highest  lati- 
tude yet  attained  })y  man  : — 

"Breakfasted  at  8.30,  immediately  after  which,  leaving  the 
cooks  behind  at  the  camp  to  attend  upon  the  invalids,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  party,  carrying  the  sextant  and  artilicial  horizon, 
and  also  the  sledge,  banners  and  colors,  started  nortiiward. 
We  had  some  very  severe  walking,  struggling  through  snow  up 
vO  our  waists,  and,  occasionally,  almost  disappearin"  through 
cracks  and  Assures,  until  twenty  minutes  to  noon,  when  a  halt 
was  called.  The  artificial  horizon  was  then  set  up,  and  the  flags 
and  banners  di8pla3'ed.  These  fluttered  out  bravely  before  » 
fresL  3.  W.  wind,  which  latter  was,  however,  decidedly  cold  and 
unpleasant.  At  noon  we  obtained  a  good  altitude,  and  pro- 
claimed our  latitude  to  be  83"  20' 26"  N.,  exactly  399}  miles 
from  the  North  Pole.  On  this  being  duly  announced,  three 
cheers  were  given  ;  then  the  whole  party,  in  the  exuberance  of 
their  spirits  at  having  reached  their  turning  point,  sang  the 
"  Union  Jack  of  Old  England,"  the  "  Grand  Palaeocrystic  Sledg- 
ing Chorus,"  winding  up,  like  loyal  subjects,  with  "God  save 
the  Queen."  These  little  demonstratioqs  had  the  effect  of  cheer- 
ing the  men  who,  nevertheless,  enjoy  good  spirits  (sic).  The 
instruments  were  then  packed,  the  colors  furled,  and  our  steps 
retraced  to  the  camp.  On  our  arrival  the  flags  were  hoisted  on 
our  tents  and  sledges,  and  kept  flying  for  the  remainder  of  the 
day.  A  magnum  of  whisky  that  had  been  sent  by  the  Dean  of 
Dundee  for  the  express  purpose  of  being  consumed  in  the  high- 
est northern  latitude,  was  produced,  and  a  glass  of  grog  served 
out  to  all.  Alter  supper  a  cigar  was  issued  to  each  man,  and 
the  day  was  brought  lo  a  close  with  songs,  even  the  invalids 
joining  in.     All  seemed  happy,  cheerful  and  contented." 

Toward  evening  the  travelers  turned  their  faces 
from  the  North  Pole  and  started  south.  The  return 
journv^y  resembled  in  many  respects  the  journey  north, 
but  there  was  not  so  much  road-making  to  be  done 


^p 


THE  RETURN  JOURNEY. 


811 


as  they  followed  their  old  tracks  as  far  as  possible. 
When  the  days  were  dull  and  cloudy  -  and  they 
frequently  were — sky  and  sea  appeared  all  one,  and 
Objects  could  not  be  seen  further  than  a  few  yards. 
The  invalids  grew  worse,  but  could  have  no  medicine 
as  the  lime-juice  was  exhausted;  and  the  appetites  of 
all  were  diminishing  daily.  They  hurried  on  toward 
the  provision  depot  as  fast  as  possible ;  but  it  was 
slow  work,  for  "out  of  thirty-four  legs  in  the  party 
only  five  were  sound."  The  second  boi^t  was  soon 
abandoned. 

Some  little  incidents  enlivened  the  tedium  of  the 
T-oute.  On  the  24th — Victoria's  birth-day — "  the  col- 
ors were  displayed  at  lunch  time,  the  main-brace 
spliced,  and  Her  Majesty's  health  drank  by  her  most 
northern  though  not  leas  loyal  subjects."  Much  inter- 
est was  occaioned  one  day  by  the  appearance  of  a 
little  snow-b  mting,  which  fluttered  around  and  chirp- 
ed for  a  few  iiinutes  and  then  fle^v  away  toward  land. 
Many  of  the  party  had  not  seen  «  uird  for  nine  months, 
and  the  sick  men  on  the  sL  dges  uncovered  their 
lieads  to  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  little  warbler. 

At  length,  June  4th,  they  arrived  at  the  depot  at 
View  Hill,  and  found  letters  from  Captain  Nares  who 
had  been  there  the  day  before.  Three  hares  which  he 
left  and  a  supply  of  groceries  were  most  welcome. 

When  again  on  the  road,  June  6th,  their  appear- 
ance was  pitiable.  A  few  men  were  pulling  at  the 
ropes,  two  of  whom  were  ready  to  drop  out  of  the 
line  at  any  moment  from  weakness ;  others  were  strug- 
gling on  behind,  and  obliged  to  lie  down  and  rest  every 
Imndred  yards ;  the  remainder  were  lying  helpless  on 
the  sledges.     It  seemed  unlikely  that  they  would  ever 


■4 


I  I 


lih 


812 


DEATH  OP  A  SEAMAN. 


reach  the  Alert,  forty  miles  distant,  without  aid,  and 
Lieut.  Parr  volunteered  to  go  on  alone  and  pro<^ure  it ; 
he  started  off,  lightly  equipped,  on  the  morning  of 
June  7th. 

On  the  next  clay  one  of  Markham'S  men  died.  A 
grave  eight  feet  deep  was  dug  in  the  ice,  and  at  9  p. 
m.,  with  ensign  at  half-mast  and  the  Union  Jack  as  a 
pall,  the  funeral  procession,  attended  by  all  but  four 
men  who  were  very  ill,  moved  thither;  the  burial 
service  was  read,  and  the  remains  consigned  to  their 
icy  resting-place.  A  rude  cross  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  grave,  with  the  following  inscription : — 
"  Beneath  this  cross  lie  buried  the  remains  of  George 
Porter,  R.  M.  A.,  who  died  on  June  8th,  1876.  Thy 
will  be  done.*' 

The  journey  was  resumed  on  the  9th,  and  at  about 
11  p.  m.  an  object  was  described  moving  rapidly 
among  the  hummocks ;  it  was  a  dog  team.  The  colors 
were  hoisted,  but  the  men  overcome  by  their  feelings, 
could  hardly  raise  a  cheer.  Well  and  faithfully  had 
Parr  redeemed  his  promise.  lie  reached  the  Alert  at 
(i  p.  m.  on  the  8th,  and  Dr.  Moss  and  Lieut.  May 
started  at  once  with  a  dog  sledge  and  medicine  and 
food. 

Greatly  refreshed  and  encouraged  the  party  march- 
ed on  the  next  day,  and  soon  met  Captain  Is' ares  and 
a  number  of  men.  The  new-comers  took  charge  of 
the  sledges  and  invalids  and  started  south,  hut  Mark- 
hum  and  a  few  of  his  comrades  stuck  to  their  ropes 
until  the  Alert  was  reached,  June  14th,  after  an  absence 
of  sev  enty-two  days. 

The  nunil)erof  English  miles  actually  traveled  by 
the  North  Pole  party  in  going  and  returninu:  was  601 ; 


and 

the 

It  n 

aJva 

Th 

Lieut 

View 

the  n 

dui'in^ 
across 
James 
a  Jon  or  t 

sledge  , 
and  tur 


f '^ 


THE  WESTERN  EXPLORING  PARTY. 


813 


•I 


and  yet  they  only  attained  a  distance  of  73  miles  trom 
the  ship,  and  about  30  miles  from  the  nearest  land. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  almost  eveiy  mile  of 
advance  involved  several  miles  of  laborious  traveling. 

The  western  exploring  party  of  seven  men  under 
Lieut.  Aldrich,  after  separating  from  Markham  at 
View  Hill,  April  11th,  started  westward  to  explore 
the  north  shore  of  Grinnell  Land.  The  motto  was 
^'•Fortitudo  Vincet,^^  and  bravely  was  it  exerajilified 
during  the  journey.  At  the  start  they  struck  inland 
across  Cape  Joseph  Henry,  v  a\  ihe  15th  reached 
James  Ross  Bay.  The  course  vvn^  then  northwesterly 
along  the  shore  of  the  clrcumpolar  sea.  A  apporting 
sledge  accompanied  Aldrich  as  far  as  Gitfar<'  Point, 
and  turned  back  April  25th.  The  snow  was  deep  and 
traveling  very  laborious  and  slow. 

On  the  1st  of  May,  Aldrich  reached  a  lofty  penk 
shaped  like  a  sugar  loaf,  1 800  feet  in  height,  draped 
in  eternal  white,  and  tei-minating  in  a  promontory 
rising  800  feet  almost  perpendicularly  from  the  sea. 
This  promontory  was  in  latitude  83*^  71 'north,  and 
longitude  70^  10'  west — the  most  northerly  land  that 
has  ever  been  visited  by  man.  Its  general  appearance 
was  worthy  of  its  position,  and  it  has  been  appropri- 
ately named  Oape  Columbia.  The  travelers  camped 
at  its  base,  on  a  hard  snow-drift  twelve  feet  deep. 

Aldrich  continued  on  in  a  westerly  and  then  in  a 
south-westerly  direction  along  the  coast  until  May 
18th,  when  he  reached  the  limit  of  his  Journsy.  He 
was  then  in  Yelverton  Bay,  in  latitude  82*^  16'  north, 
and  longitude  85*^  33'  west,  and  270  miles  from  the 
Alert.  The  coast  trended  to  the  south,  and  nothing 
could  be  seen  to  the  north  and  west  but  a  sea  of  hum- 
47 


■ 

[  I  i  \  I 

m 


;i  ; : 


8U 


THE  QBEEMLAND  EXPLORING  PARTY. 


mocks.  All  was  dreary  solitude,  with  no  stir  of  ani- 
mal life  and  nothing  to  relieve  the  dead  monotony  of 
white. 

The  explorers  turned  back  May  19th ;  most  of  them 
wei'e  suffering  from  scurvy,  and  traveling  was  pain- 
ful and  tedious.  One  month  later,  when  near  View 
Hill,  they  were  met  by  a  relief  party  with  much-need- 
ed supplies.  They  reached  the  Alert  June  25th,  after 
an  absence  of  eighty-two  days,  during  which  time 
they  had  traveled  708  miles. 

The  coast  line  of  Grant  Land  consists  of  a  steep 
shore,  with  many  promontories,  peninsulas, aid  inden- 
tations. The  cliffs  vary  in  height  from  300  to  1000 
feet.  The  interior  contains  many  elevated  summits 
which  do  not  seem  to  form  continuous  chains;  those 
farthest  to  the  west  were  called  Challenger  Mountains. 

The  ex[)loration  of  the  northern  shores  of  Green- 
land was  assigned  to  Lieut.  Beaumont  of  the  Discov- 
ery. He  left  his  ship  April  6th,  proceeded  to  the 
Alert,  and  on  the  20th  started  eastward  across  Robe- 
son Channel.  He  was  accompanied  by  Lieut.  Rawson, 
and  had  fourteen  men  and  two  sledges.  He  I'eached 
Repulse  Harbor,  April  27th,  and  then  traveled  north 
easterly  on  the  se.'i  ice  through  drifted  snows,  as  the 
rugged  cliffs  and  ic-eofthe  s'uoremade  it  impossible  to 
travel  on  land.     I*rogre8S  was  distressingly  slow. 

On  the  4th  of  May  they  reached  Stanton  Cape,  be- 
yond which  was  a  fine  bay  surrounded  by  clift'-^- 
Soon  afterward  James  Hand,  one  of  the  crew,  was 
attacked  by  scurvy,  and  on  the  11th  of  May,  when 
near  Cape  Brj'ant,  Rawson  turned  back  with  one  sledge 
carrying  the  sick  man.  Beaumont  continued  on 
through  deep  snow  until  May  2l8t,  when  he  too  was 


ob 

fro 

( 


MEETING  AT  BEPtTLSE  HARBOR. 


815 


Bol>e- 
awson, 
•eached 
north 
as  the 
jsibleto 

ow. 


ape, 


he- 


m^- 


ew, 


^vas 


w 


^y,  v^hell 

iiesledg^' 
iiued  on 


too 


-vs-as 


obliged  to  turn  back.     His  men  were  suffering  greatly 
from  scurvy,  and  two  of  them  had  to  be  carried. 

On  the  12th  of  June,  Beaumont's  paity  arrived  at 
Repulse  Harbor.  Then  they  started  for  the  Alert ; 
but  being  stopped  by  open  water  they  stmck  for 
Polaris  Bay ;  and  on  the  2oth,  when  wearily  ^'ending 
their  way  across  Polaris  Promontory  toward  Thank 
God  Harbor,  they  were  delighted  to  meet  Dr.  Coppin- 
ger,  Rawson  and  Hans  with  a  dog  team.  A  halt  was 
ordered,  and  the  Doctor  attended  to  the  sick  and 
supplied  them  with  lime-juice,  etc. 

Rawson's  report  was  not  a  very  pleasing  one. 
After  parting  with  Beaumont,  May  13th,  he  had 
struggled  southward  to  Thank  God  Harbor,  where 
Hand  died  early  in  June.  On  the  7th,  Dr.  Coppinger's 
party  arrived  from  the  Discovery,  and  were  much 
surprised  to  find  who  was  there  and  to  learn  the  sad 
news.  On  the  next  day  they  buried  their  dead  com- 
rade near  the  grave  of  Captain  Hall. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  Dr.  Coppinger  with  the  dog 
sledge  took  two  of  the  sick  men  to  the  depot  at  Polaris 
Bay,  but  for  one  of  them  rest  and  relief  came  too  late. 
Paul  died  on  the  29th,  and  was  buried  beside  his 
comrade  Hand.  The  sledge  flags  were  half-mast  high 
and  three  volleys  were  fired  over  their  graves. 

The  remainder  of  Beaumont's  party  were  brought 
on  by  the  dog  team  July  1st.  Hans  caught  .seals, 
whose  flesh  was  most  beneficial  for  the  sick  men,  and 
several  ducks  and  geese  were  shot.  Messengers  were 
sent  to  the  Discovery,  and  on  the  19th,  Captain 
Stephenson  and  six  men  arrived  bearing  all  the  med- 
ical comforts  at  their  command.  The  sick  men  re- 
covered rapidly,  and  on  the   8th  of  August  a  final 


m 


I:  Ml 


816 


BETUBN  OF  THE  EXPLORERS. 


adieu  was  bidden  to  Thank  God  Harbor.  The  ice 
was  beginning  to  break  up,  and  the  passage  across  the 
channel  tedious  and  diflScult ;  it  was  often  necessary 
to  cross  open  water  from  one  drifting  floe  to  another 
in  the  ice  boat.  Finally,  the  travelers  reached  Dis- 
covery Harbor,  August  14th,  and  saw  the  Alert 
(which  had  been  released  from  the  ice  July  31st) 
moored  near  their  own  ship.  Beaumont's  party  had 
been  absent  about  132  days,  during  which  they  had 
traveled  453  miles ;  the  highest  latitude  he  reached  was 
lower  than  that  where  the  Alert  wintered. 

The  explorers  reached  England  near  the  close  of 
October,  and  were  enthusiastically  welcomed.  Many 
of  the  oflScers  were  promoted  to  higher  ranks  in  the 
navy,  and  Captain  Nares  received  the  honor  of 
knighthood. 

During  the  absence  of  the  expedition.  Captain  Allen 
Young  was  deputed  by  the  Admirality  to  visit  the 
northern  seas,  and  give  any  aid  that  he  could  to  the 
explorers.  He  left  England,  May  1876,  in  his  yacht 
Pandora,  and  cruised  about  the  northern  part  of 
BafiSin's  Bay,  but  saw  no  signs  of  the  Expedition. 


NO 


in 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

NORDENSKIOLD'S  NORTH-EAST  PASSAGE 
EXPEDITION,  1878—80. 

Adolf  Erik  Nordenskiold  the  veteran  Arctic 
explorer  who  has  recently  acquired  additional  fame 
by  making  a  voyage  from  Europe  to  Asia  through 
the  northern  aeas — thus  discovering  the  long-sought 
North-east  Passage,  was  born  at  Helsingfors,  the  cap- 
itol  of  Finland,  Nov,  18th,  1832.  The  race  from  which 
he  sprang  has  long  been  noted  for  the  possession  of 
remarkable  qualities,  among  which  an  ardent  love  of 
nature  and  of  scientific  research  was  prominent.  In 
1710,  one  of  his  ancestors,  hearing  that  the  plague  had 
broken  out  all  over  Finland,  protected  himself  against 
the  epidemic  in  a  very  peculiar  way.  He  loaded  a 
vessel  with  provisions  and  other  supplies,  went  on 
board  with  all  his  family,  and  cruised  about  in  the 
open  sea  for  several  mouths,  taking  care  to  have  no 
communication  with  the  land. 

Nordenskiold's  father  was  a  well-known  naturalist, 

chief  of  the  mining  department  of  Finland ;  his  son 

often  accompanied  him  in  mineralogical  excursions  and 

thereby  acquired  skill  in  recognizing  and  collecting 

minerals,  and  in  the  use  of  the  blowpipe.     When,  in 

1849,  he  entered  the  University  of  Helsingfors,  he 

devoted  himself  largely  to  the  study  of  chemistry, 

817 


iir 


m 


818 


NORDENSKIOLD— THE  VEQA  AND  HER  CREW. 


mineralogy  and  geology ;  and  he  continued  his  scien- 
tific researches  in  after  life. 

In  1857  he  left  Finland  in  consequence  of  political 
trouble  with  the  Governor  General,  and  was  not  per- 
mitted to  return  to  his  native  land  until  the  displace- 
ment, in  1862,  of  the  official  whom  he  had  innocently 
offended.  In  1858  he  made  his  first  Arctic  voyage  as 
geologist  of  Torell's  expedition  to  Spitzbergen,  and 
on  his  return  he  was  appointed  Professor  and  Inten- 
dent  of  the  mineralogical  department  of  the  Riks- 
Museum  at  Stockholm.  In  1861  and  subsequently  he 
was  connected  with  several  Arctic  expeditions,  some 
of  which  have  been  described  in  a  previous  chapter. 

After  the  exploration  of  the  Kara  Sea,  and  the 
vdyages  to  the  great  Siberian  rivers,  in  1875  and  1876, 
it  was  natural  that  Nordenskiold  should  turn  a  long- 
ing eye  to  the  unexplored  sea  skirting  the  northern 
coast  of  Asia,  and  that  the  old  enterprise  of  effecting 
a  North-east  passage  to  Asia  should  be  revived. 

Nordenskiold's  new  expedition  was  planned  on  a 
larger  scale  than  any  of  his  previous  ones.  The  cost 
thereof  was  estimated  at  £20,000,  to  which  sum  Mr. 
Oscar  Dickson,  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  Mr.  A.  Sib- 
iriakoff  were  the  principal  contributors.  The  bark- 
rigged  whale-steamer  Vega,  built  of  oak,  150  feet  long 
over  deck,  with  a  breadth  of  29  feet  in  the  widest 
place  and  a  depth  in  the  hold  of  16  feet,  was  bought 
for  the  expedition.  The  crew  consisted  of  18  seamen 
of  the  Swedish  navy,  selected  from  200  who  volun- 
teered their  services,  and  three  Norwegian  walrus- 
hunters. 

In  this  memorable  expedition  Nordenskiold  was 
accompanied  by  Lieut.  A.  A.  L.  Palander,  commander 


n 
m 
P< 

re{ 

Da 

No 

oft 

thre 
sei  I 


V51 »  " 


A  8AM0YEDB  VILLAGE. 


819 


im  Mr. 
Sib- 
bark- 
5t  long 
■widest 

»ougiit 
Iseanien 

volun- 
iwalrus- 

Lld  vras 
Imander 


of  the  Vega,  and  Lieut.  Brusewitz,  second  in  com- 
mand— both  officers  of  the  Swedish  navy ;  Dr.  Kjell- 
man,  botanist;  Dr.  Stuxberg,  geologist ;  and  Dr.  A. 
Penguist,  medical  officer.  By  special  request  of  their 
respective  governments,  Lieut.  Bove  of  the  Italian 
navy,  Lieut.  Hovgaard  of  the  Danish  navy,  and  Lieut. 
Nordquirit  of  the  Imperial  Eussian  family's  battalion 
of  sharpshooters  also  joined  in  the  expedition. 

The  Vega  was  accompanied  part  of  her  voyage  by 
three  other  vessels  ;  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Yeni- 
sei by  the  steamer  Fraser  and  the  sailing  vessel  Em- 
press, laden  with  coal,  salt,  tobacco  and  iron ;  and 
as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Lena  by  a  small  steamer  of 
the  same  name,  commanded  by  Captain  Johannesen. 

The  explorers  left  Tromso,  July  21st,  1878.  Nova 
Zembla  was  sighted  on  the  29th,  and  on  the  3()th  the 
Vega,  having  steamed  along  the  coast  to  Jugor  Straits, 
anchored  at  a  Samoyede  village.  Here  some  house- 
hold articles,  dresses  &c.,  were  purchased  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  one  old  woman  was  persuaded  to  sell 
some  of  the  idols  which  are  worshipped  by  the  tribe, 
although  they  are  professedly  Christians,  and  take 
part  in  Christian  worship.  The  idols  were  all  differ- 
ent in  appearance.  One  consisted  of  a  stone,  which 
by  the  help  of  brightly-colored  patches  had  been  made 
into  a  sort  of  doll ;  another  was  a  similar  doll  with  a 
piece  of  copper  plate  for  a  face ;  and  a  third  was  a 
little  skin  doll  ornamented  with  ear-rings  and  pearls. 
These  idols,  which  are  still  regarded  with  reverence 
by  the  Samoyedes,  in  general  resemble  the  rag  dolls 
which  peasant  children  make  for  themselves  without 
the  help  of  the  toy  shops  of  towns. 

The  following  day  the  vessels  of  the  expedition  pass- 


Is  -  4 


m 


SiO 


DICKSON  HARBOR— CAPB  CHELYUSKIN. 


ed  through  Jugor  Straits  into  the  Kara  Sea,  and  on  the 
6th  of  August  all  were  anchored  in  Dickson  Harbor  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei.  The  Fraser  and  Express 
subsequently  ascended  the  river  some  500  miles,  and 
returned  home  with  full  cargoes  of  wheat,  rye,  oats 
and  tallow. 

On  the  10th  of  August  the  Vega  and  Lena  resumed 
their  eastward  voyage  and  on  the  next  day  fell  in  with 
bay  ice,  which  did  not,  however,  impede  navigation. 
From  the  14th  to  the  18th  of  August  the  vessels  lay 
at  anchor,  waiting  for  clear  weather,  in  a  splendid 
harbor  situated  in  the  strait  between  Taimyr  Island 
and  the  mainland,  which  was  named  Actinia  Haven 
from  the  number  of  actinia  which  the  dredge  brought 
up  from  the  bottom.  The  land  was  free  of  snow  and 
covered  with  a  grey-green  vegetation  consisting  of 
gras"  3,  mosses  and  lichens. 

On  the  19th  the  vessels  continued  their  course  along 
the  coast  of  the  Chelyuskin  Peninsula,  through  a 
dense  fog,  which  occasionally  lightened  up  so  that  the 
contour  of  the  land  could  be  distiniruished.  Thev 
steamed  past  an  extensive  field  of  unbroken  ice  oc- 
cupying a  bay  on  the  western  side  of  the  peninsula, 
and  at  length  an  ice-free  promontory  glinted  out 
through  the  fog  in  the  north-east.  In  a  short  time 
the  Vega  and  Lena  were  anchored  in  a  little  bay 
open  to  the  north  and  ice-free,  that  cuts  the  promon- 
tory in  two.  Flags  were  hoisted  and  a  salute  fired. 
The  first  object  of  the  voyage  had  been  attained — the 
northernmost  point  of  the  old  world,  variously  called 
Cape  Chelyuskin,  Cape  Severo,  and  North-east  Cape, 

The  air  had  cleared  and  the  cape  lay  before  them 
lighted  up  by  the  sun  and  free  from  snow.     A  large 


P 

ar 
ar 
an 


AT  THS  MOUTH  OF  THE  LENA. 


881 


Polar  bear  was  seen  parading  the  beach  with  eyes 
and  nose  turned  toward  the  bay  to  inspect  the  new 
arrival  ;  frightened  by  their  salute  it  took  to  flight 
and  escaped  the  balls  of  the  Swedes. 

Cape  Chelyuskin  forms  a  low  promontory,  divided 
into  two  parts  by  the  bay  in  which  the  vessels  had 
anchored.  The  moat  northern  point  is  in  77*^  41 ' 
north  latitude.  Inland  the  mountains  appeared  to 
rise  gradually  to  a  height  of  1000  feet. 

At  noon  on  the  20th  the  vessels  sailed  on,  meeting 
with  much  drift-ice,  and  the  floes  soon  increased  in 
size  till  progress  through  them  was  almost  impossible. 
Open  water  was  again  reached  on  the  28rd,  and  with 
a  fresh  breeze  the  vessels  moved  rapidly  along  with- 
out the  aid  of  steam  over  a  perfectly  smooth  sea. 
High,  picturesque  mountains  were  seen  inland.  On 
the  24th,  Preobrasehenski  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Chatanga  was  sighted ;  this  island  was  found  to  be  of 
chalk  formation. 

On  arriving  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  a  favorable 
wind  and  an  open  sea  induced  Nordenskiold  to  con- 
tinue on  without  stopping,  and  the  Vega  and  the  Lena 
accordingly  parted  on  the  night  between  the  27th  and 
28th  of  August — the  former  to  sail  direct  to  Fadeyev, 
one  of  the  New  Siberian  Islands,  the  latter  to  ascend 
the  Lena. 

A  pilot  had  been  engaged  to  descend  the  Lena  and 
await  the  arrival  of  the  vessel,  but  Captain  Johannes- 
en  could  discover  no  flag-staff  or  signal  tower,  and  was 
left  to  his  own  resources.  He  took  his  vessel  safely 
through  the  delta  of  the  river,  and  ascended  the  river 
to  Yakutsk,  where  he  arrived  the  21st  of  September. 
Despatches  from  Nordenskiold  were  sent  on  to  Irkutsk 


' » 


'ill       1 


I! 


•99 


NAVIOATINO  THE  LENA. 


and  a  telegram  from  that  tc  vn  on  the  16th  of  Octo'b^ir, 
announced  to  the  civilized  world  the  rounding  of  Cape 
Chelyuskin,  and  the  navigation  of  the  Lena  by  a 
steamer  from  the  Atlantic. 

When  Nordenakiold  parted  from  the  Lena  he  hoped 
to  reach  Bering's  Straits  by  the  end  of  September ;  but 
weoks  and  months  passed,  and  nothing  was  heard  of 
the  Vega  until  December,  when  two  American 
whalers,  returned  from  St.  Lawrence  Bay,  rejortetl 
that  they  had  been  informed  by  two  ti  ust-wortiiy 
natives,  that  they  had  seen  a  Russian  war-ship  frozen 
in  north  of  East  Cape,  some  forty  miles  from  land. 
This  vessel,  supposed  by  the  natives  to  be  Russian, 
was  immediately  identified  as  the  Vega,  and  a  lively 
but  unnecessary  concern  for  the  safety  of  the  explorers 
was  generally  felt.  Months  again  passed  without 
further  intelligence,  when,  in  the  middle  of  May,  1879, 
dispatches  were  received  from  the  expedition  with 
information  that  the  Vega  was  frozen  in  at  a  distance 
of  120  miles  from  Bering's  Straits.  Meantime,  Mr.  A. 
Sibiriakoff  had  started' to  search  for  the  explorcre  in 
the  steamer  "  Nordenskiold." 

After  parting  from  the  Lena  the  Vega  steered  in  a 
northeasterly  direction  toward  the  New  Siberian 
Islands,  and  on  the  31st  of  August  passed  through 
the  sound  which  separates  the  most  southerly  one  from 
the  mainland.  Eastward  there  was  an  open  channel 
along  the  coast ;  continuous  ice-fields  stretched  away 
to  the  northward. 

Cape  Chelagskqi  was  reached  Sept.  6th,  and  here 
were  met  the  first  natives  seen  since  leavinjr  Juffor 
Straits.  A  halt  was  made,  and  two  boat-loads  came 
on  board.     Their  language  was  unintelligable,  except- 


1|!'^ 


FROZSN  IN— THE  WINTER  HABBOB. 


828 


ing  tliat  one  boy  could  count  ten  in  English.  After 
this  the  explorers  were  in  daily  communication  with 
the  inhabitants  along  the  coast. 

On  the  7th  of  Sept.  progress  forward  was  impossi- 
ble, and  Nordenskiold  and  his  comrades  landed  at  the 
invitation  of  the  natives,  who  received  them  in  a  very 
fiiendly  manner,  and  offered  whatever  the  dwellings 
contaiLvid.  Food  was  abundant,  and  in  one  tent 
reindeer  flesh  was  boiling  in  a  large  cast-iron  pot. 
Children  were  plenty,  and  were  well-treated  and 
healthy.  "When  carried  about  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  men  and  women  they  were  wrapped  up  in  furs, 
but  inside  of  the  tents  they  were  completely  naked, 
and  would  sometimes  run  out  doors  in  that  condition. 

On  the  11th  the  Vega  proceeded  on  her  voyage, 
but  on  the  12th  was  obliged  to  anchor  again  near  the 
point  of  a  promontory  on  which  Was  a  village  of 
eighteen  tents.  On  the  18th  the  Vega  again  started, 
making  alow  progress  and  frequent  stops,  and  by  the 
28th  was  firmly  frozen  in. 

The  winter-harbor  was  situated  120  miles  from 
Bering's  Straits,  one  mile  from  land,  and  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  three  tent  villages  called  Yint- 
len,  Pitlekajo,  and  Irigononk,  and  at  a  point  frequently 
visited  by  vessels  from  the  Pacific. 

"  When  we  were  frozen  in,"  says  Nordenskiold,  "  there  was 
ice-free  water  some  minutes  farther  east.  A  single  hour's  steam- 
ing of  the  Vega  at  full  speed  had  probably  been  sufficient  to 
traverse  this  distance,  and  a  day  earlier  the  drift-ice  at  this  point 
would  no  have  formed  any  serious  obstacle  to  the  advance  of 
the  vessel." 

"  During  the  month  of  October  the  ice  had  increased  so  much 
in  strength  that  a  house  of  ice  was  built  on  shore,  with  the  view  of 
making  magnetical  observations  there.    A  tent  was  now  drawn 


h 


824 


LIFE  AMID  THE  ICE. 


over  the  ship,  the  riggino'  having  been  lowered,  and  a  thick 
covering  of  snow  was  laid  on  the  deck,  while  other  necessary 
preparations  to  lessen  the  effects  of  an  Arctic  winter  were  made. 
Every  Saturday  evening  lectures  were  delivered  on  suitable 
subjects.  In  the  cabins  of  the  officers  and  the  crew,  as  well  as 
in  the  middle  deck,  lamps  were  kept  burning  all  day  long.  On 
no  occasion  was  daylight  quite  wanting,  and  even  on  the  short- 
est day,  although  the  sun  did  not  rise  above  the  horizon,  there 
was  a  couple  of  hours'  dajiight.  The  sport  during  the  winter  was 
very  poor.  The  bears  kept  away,  wolves  were  seen  but  could 
not  be  got  at,  and  the  hares  and  ptarmigans  being  white  were 
very  diflicult  to  slioot  on  the  snow ;  but  during  the  spring  the 
sport  became  excellent.  The  gales  were  especially  violent  dur- 
ing the  months  of  October  and  November,  and  the  blocks  of  ice 
rose  to  a  height  of  some  fifteen  yards. 

"All  the  w.iy  from  Cape  Chelagskoj  the  coast  is  thickly 
studded  with  villages,  consisting  each  of  from  five  to  fifteen  tents, 
inhabited  by  Tchuktclies,  a  tribe  doubtless  descended  from  the 
Eskimo  >f  Greenland.  These  tents  are  roomy,  and  inclose  one 
or  two  sleeping  places,  which  Ibrm.  as  it  were,  a  special  inner 
tent  oi  warm  reindeer  skin,  which  is  heated  and  lighted  by  a 
train-oil  larnii.  In  summer,  but  not  in  winter,  a  wood  fire  is  kept 
up  in  the  mildleof  the  exterior  tent,  an  opening  being  made  in 
the  top  of  it  lor  the  escape  of  the  smoke. 

"In  the  inner  tent  the  women  go  quite  naked  with  the  except/- 
ion  of  a  narrow  girdle.  They  wear  their  hair  long,  parted  at  the 
top,  and  iiraided.  Tliej*  are  tattooed  with  two  dark-blue  lines 
bent  inwards  on  either  side  of  the  face. 

"  The  men  generally  have  the  hair  shaved  or  clipped  to  the 
root  with  tlio  exception  of  the  outer  margin,  whicli  is  left  an  inch 
long  amd  combed  over  t*ie  face.  They  are  sometimes  j)ainte(l 
with  a  black  right-angled  cross  placed  obli<iuely  on  the  check 
bone. 

"  The  Tchuktche  has  i)lack  hair  and  eyes,  a  brownish-yellow 
skin,  and  is  small  of  statue.  He  is  very  friendly  and  service- 
able, especially  if  he  gets  '  knitan,'  a  common  expression  for  all 
kinds  of  food.  He  will  do  almost  anything  for  a  drop  of  brandy. 
He  is  a  shrewd  and  cdouljitiri;.'  inan  of  business,  and  has  been 
accustomed  to  it  fro>:i  childhood  through  the  barter   which  i» 


THE  TCHUKTCHE8— AURORAL  PHENOMENA. 


825 


carried  on  between  America  and  Siberia.  Many  a  beaver-skin 
that  comes  to  tlu'  market  at  Irbit  belongs  to  an  animal  that  has 
been  caught  in  America,  whose  skin  has  since  gone  from  hand  to 
hand  among  the  wild  men  until  it  has  at  length  reached  the 
Russian  merchant. 

"  The  natives  live  by  fishinir.  including  whale  fishing,  and  hunt- 
ing the  seal  and  walrus.  They  are  dressed  in  reindeer  skins, 
with  which  they  also  cover  their  tents,  procuring  them  by  barter 
with  the  nomad  portion  oi  the  population  of  the  Tchuktche  Pen- 
insula, the  so-called  Reindeer-Tehuktches,  who  carry  on  the  breed- 
ing of  reindeer  and  wander  from  place  to  place.  During  winter, 
when  fishing  is  impossible,  the  coast  Tcluiktches  travel  along 
the  coast  with  dog-sledges  and  carry  on  barter  with  the  natives 
of  other  villages." 

The  time  (luring  which  the  Vega  was  frozen  in  was 
passed  by  the  explorers  without  any  extraordinary 
incident.  There  was  but  little  sickness  among  them, 
and  no  one  died.  Scientific  investigations  were  kept 
up,  and  at  the  observatory  one  of  the  ofllcers  and  two 
of  the  crew  were  on  cons^tant  duty. 

Nordenskiold  devoted  much  attention  to  the  obser- 
vation and  re^isteration  of  auroral  phenomena,  The 
season  was  a  minimun  one  for  such  ap[)earances  and 
Sim  spots.  During  tlie  winter  ho  did  not  once  observe 
that  the  Northern  Lights  attained  the  magnificent 
development  acquired  by  them  in  Scandinavia.  But 
whenever  the  sky  was  clear,  and  there  was  no  sun  or 
moon,  he  saw,  constant  in  the  northeast  horizon,  and 
always  in  the  same  exact  spot,  a  faintly  luminous  arc 
so  motionless  us  to  be  susceptible  of  accurate  measure- 
ment. This  phenomenon,  Nordenskiold  concludes, 
conies  from  an  actual  aureole,  or  ring  of  light,  surround- 
ing the  northern  portion  of  the  globe-gilding  the  whole 
of  Noi'th  America  with  an  enduring  glory.  Its  centre 
should  be  the  spot  where  llall  wintered,  and  its  radius 
about  eight  degrees. 


Hi 


826 


THE  RELEASE— HOMEWABD  VjyAQE. 


The  ship  was  a  constant  rendezvous  for  the  natives, 
many  of  whom  pasised  that  way  on  their  travels  or 
simply  came  to  gratify  their  curiosity.  All  of  them 
went  on  board  and  were  hospitably  entertained,  for 
which  they  appeared  grateful  and  always  friendly. 
By  studying  their  language  the  explorers,  assisted  by 
pantomime,  were  able  after  a  while  to  get  along  fairly 
in  the  way  of  conversation  with  them.  Among  the 
visitors  was  Warili  Menka,  a  Christian  Tschuktscher 
whom  the  Russian  government  had  appointed  chief 
over  all  the  Tschuktschers.  He  took  away  letters  from 
the  explorers,  which  subsequently  reached  their  des- 
tination. 

At  length,  after  264  days  detention  in  the  ice,  the 
Vega  was  released  on  the  18th  of  July,  and  immedi- 
ately resumed  the  voyage  eastward.  Bering's  Straits 
were  quickly  entered,  Port  Clarence  on  the  American 
side  of  the  straits,  Bering  Island,  and  several  other 
places  were  visited,  and  thon  the  ex})lorer8  headed 
for  Yokohama,  Japan,  where  they  arrived  Sept.  2nd. 
Here  a  grand  banquet  was  given  to  them  by  the  learn- 
ed societies  of  Tokio  and  Yokohama,  and  they  were 
received  by  the  emperor  at  his  palace. 

Leaving  Yokohama,  the  explorers  started  home- 
ward by  the  way  of  the  Suez  Canal,  and  were  most 
enthusiastically  received  wherever  they  halted  on  the 
way.  They  arrived  at  Sweden  about  the  middle  of 
April,  1880. 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

THE  AMERICAN   ARCTIC   EXPEDITION   OF 

1879. 

The  American  Arctic  Expedition  of  1879,  which 
departed  from  San  Francisco  on  the  8th  of  July,  was 
projected  by  James  Gordon  Bennett,  proprietor  of  the 
New  York  Iferald.  After  the  return  of  the  last  of 
the  two  successful  expeditions  which  he  had  sent  to 
Africa  under  Henry  M.  Stanley,  he  longed  for  new 
worlds  to  conquer  and  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Frozen  Zone. 

Mr.  Bennett  decided  to  send  out,  at  his  own  expense, 
an  expedition  to  attempt  to  reach  the  North  Pole  by 
way  of  Bering's  Straits,  and  he  subsequently  bought 
the  Pandora,  the  English  craft  mentioned  on  pnge 
816.  By  special  acts  of  Congress  the  vessel  was  allow- 
ed to  Siiil  under  American  colors,  to  assume  a  new 
name — tlie  Jeaiinette — and  to  be  navigated  bv  offi- 
cers  of  the  United  States  Navy,  with  all  the  rights 
anil  ju'ivileges  of  a  government  ship.  She  was  taken 
through  the  Straits  of  Magellan  to  San  Fi-ancisco  by 
Lieut.  George  W.  DeLong,  and  there  turned  over  to  the 
naval  authorities  at  Mare  Island,  to  be  put  in  order 
for  the  northern  voyage. 

The  Jeannette  was  built  in  England  in  1862.  She 
is  a  bark-rigged  steam  yacht  of  420  tons  burden,  with 


m 


828 


THE  JEANNETTE  AND  HER  OFFICERS. 


an  engine  of  200  horse  power  and  a  wide  spread  of 
canvas.  She  was  constructed  for  service  in  the  ice, 
and  in  1873  conveyed  her  owner  to  the  Arctic  regions 
for  the  purpose  of  searching  for  records  of  Franklin's 
expedition.    • 

While  at  Mare  Island  important  repairs  and  im- 
provements were  made  in  the  ship.  Her  hull  was 
strengthened  by  bracing,  new  boilers  were  put  in, 
together  with  all  kinds  of  machinery  that  might 
possibly  be  of  use.  The  cabin  and  forecastle  were 
padded  with  layers  of  felt  to  keep  out  the  cold,  and 
the  poop  deck  was  covered  with  several  thicknesses  of 
stout  painted  canvas.  Boats,  tents,  extra  sails,  t"''o 
extra  propellers,  extra  pumps,  a  distilling  apparatus,  a 
hoisting  engine  rigged  on  the  spar  deck  to  be  employed 
in  warping,  and  everything  that  could  be  deviL,ed  to 
give  safety  to  the  explorers  and  efficiency  to  the  expe- 
dition were  provided. 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  Jeannette  were  as 
follows : — 

Lieut.  GeortteW.  DeLonj;,  U.  8.  N.,  Comuinndpr. 
Lieut.  Cliorles  VV.  Chlpp.  U.  S.  N.,  Executive  Officer. 
Lii'Ut.  Jiihii  W.  DaniilielmiT,  U.  8.  N.,  Nuvi^ator. 
Gecrne  W.  MHlvllle,  U.  8.  N.,  Chief  Engineer. 
J.  M.  M.   \inbler,  U.  8.  N.,  Surncon.     Jer-  iiie  J.  Collirs,  Meteorologist. 

RaMiiond  L.  N«wc()nil>,  Naturalist.     William  M.  Dunbar,  Ice  Pilot. 

Will.  Liudernian,  Alfred  Swcetinann,  Carpciiters.    Walter  Lee,  MacliinUt. 

Win.  Cole,  Boatswain.     G.  VV.  Boyd,  1.  Iverson,  Geo.  Landerhaucli,  Firciiu'li. 

Loui.iNoittfi,  Herbert  W.  Leach,   Henry  D.  Warner,  Juniee  U.  Burtlett,  Geo. 

StepheiKion,  Adolph  DrcB»ler,  Carl  A.  GorlE,  Peter  E.  Jobiison,  Henry  Wilson, 

Etiwurd  Star,  Huns  IL   Ericligon,    H.  H.  Knack,    Albert  O.  Knihuc,  Seaiuen- 

Sam,  Tong  Sing,  iind  All  Sing,  Chinese  cook,  steward,  and  cabin  boy. 

Lieuts.  DeLong  and  Chipp  weie  officers  of  the  U.  S. 
steamer  Juniata  on  her  northern  cruise  in  search  of 
the  crew  of  the  lost  Polaris.  (See  page  770).  Mr. 
Melville  was  engineer  of  the  steamer  Tigress  when 
she  went  north  on  the  same  trrand.     William  Liutler- 


]m 


SPEECH  OF  CAPTAIN  DE  LONG. 


829 


man  was  a  member  of  tlie  Polaris  ice-drift  party.  All 
of  the  crew  were  volunteers,  selected  with  great  care 
from  many  applicants. 

A  complimentary  reception  was  given  by  the  Cali- 
fornia Academy  of  Sciences  to  the  officei'S  of  the 
Jeannette,  a  few  days  before  their  departure.  The 
meeting  was  lai-gely  attended,  and  many  eminent 
scientists  of  the  Pacific  Coast  were  present.  Speeches 
were  made  by  Dr.  Baehr,  J.  P.  Moore,  Charles  W. 
Brooks,  William  Bradford,  J.  J.  Collins  of  the  expedL 
tion,  and  others.  Dr.  A.  B.  Stout  read  a  veiy  elabo- 
rate and  exhaustive  paper  on  Arctic  discovery,  and  in 
closing  said  : — "  May  prosperous  gales  speed  the  Jean- 
nette on  her  mission,  and  when  her  destined  voyage 
has  achieved  its  good  intent,  may  her  safe  I'etuni, 
laden  as  she  will  be  with  a  rich  cargo  of  scientific 
lore,  be  a  thing  of  certainty.  To  those  noble  and 
daring  hearts  that  tread  her  deck  we  give  our  ardent 
*God  speed  you!'  and  utter  for  them  our  earnest 
prayer,  'God  bless  you  an<l  pi'otect  you!'"  In  re- 
sponse to  an  invitation  to  address  the  audience  Lieut. 
DeLong  spoke  as  follows : — 

"  When  the  offlcors  of  the  expc:lition  which  *I  have  the  honor 
to  command  were  invited  to  be  present  tliis  eve.iing  to  listen  to 
the  discussion  of  the  Arctic  problem,  I  replied  for  lliern  and  my- 
self that  noti.ing  would  give  us  greater  plcrsure  than  to  he 
present.  At  the  same  time,  however,  I  asked  that  we  might  be 
excused  from  any  active  participation  in  the  discussion  until 
after  our  return  from  within  the  Arctic  Circle.  This  humble  pe- 
culiaritj-  of  ours,  it  would  seem,  is  not  to  be  tolerated,  and  how- 
ever unfit  I  am  to  reply  with  any  degree  of  propriety  to  tlie  very 
kind  remarks  that  have  been  made  to  us  tliis  evening,  it  seems 
that  ii  is  one  of  the  duties  that  is  forced  upon  the  commander  of 
the  expedition,  as  well  as  a  great  many  other  duties.  As  far  as 
48 


;M' 


880 


OBJECT  OF  THE  EXPEDITION. 


this  part  of  the  expedition  is  concerned,  there  is  really  very  little 
to  say.  By  the  act  of  Congress  it  lias  been  placed  under  the 
charge  of  naval  oflicers,  and  it  has,  since  the  passage  of  the  act 
of  Congress,  received  the  fostering  care  and  encouragiment  of  the 
Navy  Department.  It  is  peculiar  as  being  the  first  expedition 
fitted  out  to  penetrate  the  highest  regions  of  the  north  by  wa}*  of 
Bering's  Straits.  Ships  have  heretofore  passed  through  Bering's 
Straits,  rounding  Point  Barrow,  and  going  to  the  northward  to 
rescue  and  relieve  Sir  John  Franklin  ;  but  this  is  the  first  purely 
Polar  expedition  that  has  ever  been  despatched  by  way  of  Ber- 
ing's Straits. 

"  I  dare  say  thp.t  after  we  have  left  San  Francisco  in  our  pas- 
sage to  the  northern  seas  we  shall  experience  very  much  the  same 
difflculties  and  hardships  and  trials  that  have  been  experienced  by 
everybody  who  has  gone  before  us.  It  is  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult things — in  fact,  it  is  an  impossible  thing — for  one  starting 
out  on  an  expedition  of  this  kind  to  say  in  advance  what  he  is 
going  to  do.  The  ground  which  we  are  going  to  traverse  is  an 
entirely  new  one.  After  reaching  the  seventy-first  parallel  of 
latitude  we  go  out  into  a  great  blank  space,  which  we  are  going 
to  endeavor  to  delineate  and  to  determine  whether  it  is  water  or 
land  or  ice.  You  will  excuse  me,  therefore,  from  attempting  to 
explain  what  we  are  going  to  do.  If  you  will  be  kind  enough  to 
keep  us  in  memory  while  we  are  gone  we  will  attempt  to  tell  you 
what  we  have  done  on  our  return,  which,  I  dare  say,  will  be  more 
interesting  than  attempting  to  tell  you  what  we  hope  to  do.  I 
can  only  return  t<t  j'ou  mj'  sincere  thanks  for  the  kind  reception 
you  have  given  us  and  for  the  interest  you  manifest  in  our 
peculiar  undertaking." 

On  the  30th  of  June  the  San  Francisco  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  specially  convened  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
pressing the  deep  interest  felt  in  the  expedition  by 
that  b'  dy,  adopted  the  following  resolutions : — 

"  Whereas  the  San  Francisco  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  desir- 
ous of  expressing  its  deep  interest  and  good  will  toward  ail 
measures  calculated  to  forward  and  extend  any  scientific  explo- 
rations likely  to  benefit  the  commerce,  navigation  or  agricultural 
interests  of  our  country  ;  therefore,  on  behalf  of  the  mercantile 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE.      831 


r^ 


industry  of  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
be  it 

Resolved. — That  we  earnestly  offer  our  cheering  words  of  hearty 
approval  to  encourage  the  well-planned  American  Arctic  Ex- 
pedition about  to  prosecute  from  our  Pacific  coast  a  continu- 
ance of  that  noble  work  of  Polar  exploration  so  gallantly  inaugu- 
rated and  fearlessly  advanced  by  the  nations  bordering  on  the 
Atlantic.  On  behalf  of  our  city,  as  a  future  seat  of  national 
weallli  and  extended  commerce,  we  desire  to  foster  scientific 
enlightenment,  and  this  Chamber  views  withmarlved  interest  an 
enterprise  of  national  importance,  sailing  from  its  Golden  Gate, 
fully  ecpiipped  with  a  picked  band  of  brave  and  resolute  men  pos- 
sessod  of  Arctic  experience,  whom  we  feel  are  capable  of  winning 
a  successful  and  glorious  record  for  the  nation  whose  banner  floats 
over  them  and  whose  blessing  goes  with  them.  While  recogniz- 
ing with  ailiniration  the  fact  that  this  expedition  is  whollj'  paid 
fur  and  sui)|iortcd  bj-  private  munificence,  we  rejoice  that  this 
fiiterprise  is  oilicially  endorsed  by  the  United  States  government, 
who  accord  it  the  national  rij;hts  necessary  to  proper  discipline, 
and  the  suitable  dignity  intrusted  b}-  a  great  and  growing  nation 
wliose  knowledge  it  will  increase  and  to  wiiose  honor  it  will  re- 
dound. As  a  national  work  it  will  extend  the  geographical 
survey  and  topogr.'iphical  knowledge  of  our  northern  boundary; 
in  tiie  intertist  of  commerce,  navigation  and  national  agriculture 
it  in.iy  determine  laws  of  meteorology,  hydrography,  astronomy, 
and  gravitation,  reveal  ocean  currents,  develop  new  fisheries, 
<li-icnvor  liui'ls  and  people  hitherto  unknown;  and  by  extending 
til;-  world's  knowledge  of  such  fundamental  principles  of  earth 
life  as  miigni'tism  and  electricity  and  various  collateral  branches 
orntino>^|ilierip  science  solve  great  problems  important  to  our 
common  linmanitV. 

Resolved.  That  as  the  well-merited  oft'ering  of  an  apprecia- 
tive nation,  our  people  would  most  heartily  approve  of  and  endorse 
the  iisi!  of  a  national  vessel  to  convoy  the  Jeannette  to  her  most 
northern  port  of  dei)ariure,  wliencc,  leaving  the  shores  of  solemn 
pine,  she  will  traverse  the  northern  seas  alone,  followed  by  the 
earnest  hopes  of  frieiuls  to  progress  and  the  world  of  science. 

Resolved.— That  we  lender  to  her  brave  and  acconiplished 
commander.   Lieutenant    George    W.   DeLong,   United   States- 


1^1 


832 


GOOD-BYB  TO  THE  Jl'ANNETTE. 


Navy,  to  i\is  efficient  staff  of  able  specialists  in  various  depart- 
ments of  science,  and  to  his  hardy  and  gallant  crew,  one  and 
all,  our  hearty  good  wishes  fcr  their  safe  return  and  for  the 
entire  success  of  the  American  Arctic  Expedition  from  the  Pacific. 

The  departure  of  the  Jeannette  from  San  Fraucisco, 
on  the  8th  of  July  1879,  was  a  notable  event  in  the 
history  of  that  city.  As  the  vessel  moved  slowly 
toward  the  Golden  Gate,  the  friendly  waving  of  hats 
and  handkerchiefs  from  the  wharves,  the  shipping, 
and  Telegraph  Hill,  told  the  explorers  that  the  good 
people  of  the  city  as  well  as  the  men  of  the  sea,  were 
giving  them  a  hearty  send-off.  A  salute  of  ten  guns 
fired  from  Fort  Point  greeted  them  at  the  Narrows, 
and  several  steamboats  crowded  with  spectators,  and 
the  white-sailed  craft  o^  ^e  San  Francisco  Yacht  Club, 
convoyed  the  Jeannettv.  ll  she  was  out  on  the  bosom 
of  the  broad  Pacific  and  fairly  started  on  her  voyage 
to  the  unknown  north. 

The  Jeannette  proceeded  direct  to  Ounalaska,  one 
of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  and  anchored  in  the  harbor 
of  Illiouliouk.  This  place  is  the  headquarters  of  the 
Alaska  Commercial  Company,  and  its  agent,  Mr. 
Greenbaim,  and  other  officials,  showed  the  explorers 
much  kindness  and  attention. 

On  the  6th  of  August  the  Jeannette  resumed  her 
course,  and  on  the  12th  of  August  anchored  opposite 
the  little  settlement  and  blockhouse  known  by  Ameri- 
cans as  St.  Michael's,  Alaska,  and  by  Russians  as  Mich- 
aelovski.  Here  the  explorers  were  welcomed  by  Mr. 
Newmann,  agent  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Com- 
pany and  by  Mr.  Nelson,  an  employe  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  and  observer  of  the  U.  S.  Signal 
Service,  who  are  philosophical  enough  to  live  content- 


LAST  WORDS  FROM  THE  EXPLORERS. 


833 


edly  in  this  isolated  position.  A  drove  of  dogs  were 
taken  on  board  at  this  place,  and  two  native  Alaskans 
were  hired  to  accompany  the  expedition  as  dog-drivers 
and  hunters. 

On  the  18th  of  August  the  schooner  Fanny  A.  Hyde, 
which  was  to  convey  coal  and  extra  stores  for  the 
expedition  as  far  as  St.  Lawrence  Bay,  arrived  from 
San  Francisco,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  2l8t  both 
vessels  resumed  the  voyage  northward.  As  they 
started  out,  the  guns  at  the  olS  Kussian  fort  and  at 
the  agency  of  the  Western  Fur  and  Trading  Company 
belched  forth  a  parting  salute. 

On  the  25th  the  Jeannette  arrived  at  the  harbor  in 
St.  Lawrence  Bay,  ^ast  Siberia,  some  30  miles  south 
of  East  Cape,  and  the  schooner  arrived  the  next  day. 
From  this  point  the  Jeannette  continued  her  journey 
alone.  In  September  she  was  seen  by  whaleis,  pur- 
suing her  lonely  voyage.  Just  before  starting  from  St. 
Lawrence  Bay,  Mr.  Collins,  as  special  correspondent  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  wrote  to  that  journal  as  follows  : 

"All  before  us  now  is  uncertaintj-,  because  our  movements  will 
be  governed  by  circumstances  over  which  we  can  have  no  con- 
trol. If,  as  I  telegraphed,  the  search  for  Nordcnskiold  is  now 
needless,  we  will  try  and  reach  Wrangel  Lund  and  find  a  winter 
harbor  on  that  new  land,  on  which,  we  bplieve,  the  white  man  has 
not  yet  put  his  foot.  At  the  worst,  we  may  winter  in  Siberia  and 
"  go  for  "  the  Wrangel  Land  mystery  next  spring.  I  am  in  great 
hopes  we  will  reach  there  this  season. 

"  We  are  amply  supplied  with  fur  clothing  and  provisions,  so 
that  we  can  feed  and  keep  warm  in  anj*  event  for  some  time. 
Our  dogs  will  enable  us  to  make  explorations  to  considerable 
distances  from  the  ship  and  determine  the  character  of  the 
country.  Feeling  that  we  have  the  sympathy  of  all  we  left  at 
home,  we  go  North,  trusting  in  God's  protection  and  our  good 
fortune.     Farewell." 


:li 


I'. 


I:. 


834  MISSING  WHALEBS  -THE  RELIEF  STEAMER  CORWIN. 

In  the  autumn  of  1879,  two  whaling  boats,  the 
Mount  WoUaston  and  Vigilant — which,  with  a  score 
^of  others,  left  San  Francisco  in  the  spring — failed  to 
return,  and  were  reported  as  having  been  seen  im. 
prisoned  in  the  ice  north  of  Bering's  Straits,  Oct. 
20th,  by  Captain  Campbell  whose  ship  was  the  last 
that  succeeded  in  getting  away. 

Much  concern  for  the  safety  of  the  missing  barks  was 
felt  in  San  Francisco,  and  the  following  petition 
was  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy : — 

Sir — The  undersigned,  merchants  and  citizens  of  San  Fran' 
Cisco,  being  of  a  belief  that  the  situation  of  the  Steamer  Jean- 
nette  and  the  whaling  barks  Mount  Wollaston  and  Vigilant,  now 
in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  is  one  of  extreme  danger,  would  most  res- 
pectfully petition  that  as  soon  as  navigation  opens  in  the  spring, 
a  government  vessel  may  be  sent  to  relieve  them  and  afford  them 
assistance  in  saving  the  lives  and  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the 
oflcers  and  crews  of  the  above  named  vessels. 

The  naming  of  the  Jeannette  with  the  whalers  was 
justified  by  the  petitioners  on  the  opinion  of  returned 
whalemen,  that  the  vessel  did  not  succeed  in  reaching 
Wrangell  Land,  owing  to  the  early  formation  of  ice 
last  season. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  subsequently  decided  to 
send  the  revenue  steamer  Corwin  on  a  trip  northward 
to  search  for  the  absent  vessels,  and  render  them  and 
their  crews  any  possible  needed  assistance.  Cajitain 
Hooker,  of  the  Corwin,  was  also  instnicted  to  cruise 
in  the  waters  of  Alaska  for  the  enforcement  of  the  U. 
S.  Revenue  laws,  and  to  protect  the  interests  of  tlie 
.government,  and  perform  other  duties  of  a  scientific 
and  humane  nature. 

The  Corwin  sailed  fi'om  San  Francisco  on  her  mis- 
sion of  good-will,  May  22nd,  1880. 


i 


